Time Warp: Year One
by Laen
Summary: Complete! Harry makes a little wish on his 16th birthday that he could go back in time to change his past... and he wakes up five years earlier... on his 11th birthday... HHr Paring.
1. Back in Time

**Title: **Time Warp: Year One

**Author: **Laen

**Chapter: **(1) Back In Time

**Summary: **Harry makes a wish to go back in time to change his life, so everything was different, so he could've made a difference... here's the catch... it actually happens.

**Disclaimer:** All characters below belong to Joanne K. Rowling, the idea of Harry going back in time came from Back to the Future. 

**Author's Note:** Hey people, new fanfic~ don't worry, I'm planning to finish the other gazillion fan fiction stories sometime in the next ten years ^^ Hope you enjoy this... and remember, **READ AND REVIEW!**

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In slow motion, Harry watched as the death eater pull the gun out of his robes, and point it at Hermione. After taking aim, the death eater took fire.

"No!" Harry shouted as he watched the bullet make contact with the muggle born witch. Hermione fell backwards towards the ground, and Harry felt his heart shatter into pieces. 

_'No... She can't be dead...' _Harry thought to himself as he ran forward towards her.

"Hermione? Hermione?" Harry whispered as he slowly picked her up from the ground, and checked her pulse for a heartbeat. 

Nothing. 

She was dead.

"Oops, did I kill Potter's girlfriend?" a cruel voice asked as Harry looked up at Hermione's attacker.

"Lucius." Harry growled as he glared at the blonde man.

"The Dark Lord wishes you a **'Happy Birthday'**. And we hope you enjoy your present. Not to mention the cake."

The moment Lucius finished the sentence; a large cake appeared in front of Harry. Sixteen candles were lit upon it, and the frosting was emerald green.

"Happy Birthday, Harry Potter." Lucius whispered before he disappeared with a pop.

Tears began to slide down the sixteen year old boy's face as he closed his eyes, yelling at himself silently for not being able to save his best friend.

"I'm sorry." He said as last as he looked down towards Hermione.

She looked so peaceful... 

"I'm so sorry..." Harry whispered as tears continued to stream down his face.

As Harry raised his right arm to wipe his tears off his face, he thought back to Lucius' last words.

_"We hope you enjoy your present. Not to mention the cake."_

The cake... should he blow the candles out? Make a wish?

_'The only thing you want at this moment can't be given to you... she's dead already.' _A voice inside Harry's head muttered as the sixteen year old birthday boy shut his eyes tightly.

_"It doesn't hurt to try, does it?"_ Harry thought to himself as he opened his eyes again, and looked at the cake that was levitating in front of him.

_'No, it doesn't.' _ The voice inside his head replied as Harry got to his feet and approached the cake.

"I wish I could go back in time," Harry began as he took a deep breath and sighed slowly, "I wish I had a chance to stop all this. To make a difference. To have a chance to be with Hermione again... to tell her how I felt."

Slowly, Harry inhaled a gasp of air, and blew the candles out, one by one. The moment the last flame disappeared, Harry felt a tug, and the nauseous feeling he always got when he was using a port key.

Shutting his eyes tightly, he waited for something to happen, for someone to say something. But he only heard the sound of rain around and above him... and solid ground. He was now lying down... beneath him he felt a cold and solid ground. Snoring could be heard from nearby, and a frown appeared onto Harry's face.

As he opened his eyes, he looked around his surroundings... he seemed to be in a room of some sort... and the surroundings seem very familiar to him... Looking around as he sat up, he noticed a couch right next to him, and upon it was... Dudley? Taking a quick look around him once more, he recognized his surroundings as the shack he had stayed in when he had first met Hagrid.

BOOM!

The whole shack shivered, and Harry's head snapped towards the direction of the door... someone was outside, knocking to come in.

BOOM! They knocked again, this time, the loud sound woke Dudley up.

"Where's the cannon?" he asked stupidly as Harry frowned.

_He had already gone through all this before... five years ago... in the past... back in time..._

Suddenly, the fact hit Harry straight in the face, and he realized what had happened. He had gone back in time.

As he heard a loud crash come from behind, he saw his Uncle come skidding into the room holding a rifle in his hands.

"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you—I'm armed!"

There was a paused, and Harry knew what was going to happen next.

SMASH!

The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.

A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.

The giant—Hagrid obviously, squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."

Harry watched as the man strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the giant.

Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.

"An' here's Harry!" said Hagrid as he looked down at the young boy.

"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," Hagrid smiled. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."

Behind Harry, Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.

"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," Hagrid muttered as he reached over the back of the soft, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the corner.

Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on before shutting up.

"Anyway—Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "A very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here—I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box and handed it to Harry, who opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with _Happy Birthday Harry_ written on it in green icing.

Harry looked up at the giant with a grin. He wanted to say thanks, but for some reason, he ended up asking, "Who are you?"

As the giant chuckled, Harry thought back to something Hermione told him in their third year about time travelling... they weren't aloud to change anything... otherwise the future could be altered very badly.

"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.

"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled crisp packets in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hurt with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.

The giant sat back down onto the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs and a bottle of some amber liquid which he took a swig from before starting to make tea.

Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little.

"Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley." Uncle Vernon said sharply as Hagrid chuckled darkly.

"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' any more, Dursley, don' worry."

He passed the sausages to Harry, who ate three of them, before getting up, and walking over to Dudley and offering the sausages to him.

"You've got to be hungry. Eat some." He said as his cousin looked over at Uncle Vernon, who looked like he was about to kill, then back at Harry.

"I already ate three of them, they're really good. Don't worry, they're not poison." Harry said as he held it out to his cousin, who immediately grabbed the sausages and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Why'd yeh do tat?" Hagrid asked as he looked over his Harry.

"He's my cousin. And he hasn't eaten anything for the last few hours. He's probably starving." Harry said as Dudley handed him the plate back gratefully and he walked back over to Hagrid.

Harry knew for a fact he probably shouldn't have done that, but if he was going to relive the last five years of his life, he might as well start off by mending a few things with Dudley. Otherwise the summers he spent after he returned from Hogwarts may be hell.

"I see, well, I guess you'd be wanting your letter now? About Hogwarts—I'm surprised the stupid muggles didn't give it to you in the first place." Hagrid said as he reached into his jacket.

"Stop!" Uncle Vernon shouted suddenly, "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything."

Hagrid looked up at the man and with a furious look that probably would've killed before speaking in an angry tone.

"You never told him did you? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it away from him all these years?" Hagrid growled as he looked over at Harry.

"**I FORBID YOU FROM TELLING HIM ANYTHING**!" Uncle Vernon yelled in panic as Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh." Hagrid said. "Harry—yer a wizard."

There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.

"I'm a _what_?" Harry finally said as he suddenly remembered his first reply to Hagrid after he had found out who he really was.

"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "and' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else woiuld yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yeh letter."

Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, address in emerald green to _Mr H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea._ He pulled out the letter and read it out loud, although he knew what it contained.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr Potter,_

_            We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_            Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Harry was silent for a moment, knowing that he was supposed to be thinking of questions to ask, after a few minutes, he finally asked "What does it mean, they await my own?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead before reaching into a pocket in his over coat and pulled an owl, a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teen he scribbled a note which Harry could read upside down.

_Dear Mr. Dumbledore,_

_Given Harry his letter. Taking him to buy his things tomorrow._

_Weather's horrible. Hope you're well._

_Hagrid._

Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.

"Where was I?" Hagrid asked, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight to speak.

"He's not going." He said as Hagrid grunted.

"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him." He said as Uncle Vernon glared at him. Harry didn't bother to ask what a muggle meant.

"We swore when he took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "Swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard, indeed!"

Harry suddenly felt anger surge through him, and the fact that he had already lived this once was soon forgotten as he began to yell at his uncle.

"You _knew_? You _knew_ I'm a—a wizard?" he asked angrily.

"Knew?" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "_Knew_! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that—that school—and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats—"

"You can't use magic outside of Hogwarts!" Harry cut in, but Aunt Petunia made no sign of stopping.

"—I was the only one who saw her for what she was—a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"

She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.

"And then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as—as—abnormal—and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"

"Blown up? Blown up?" Harry shouted angrily as he glared at his aunt, "You told me they died in a car crash!"

Suddenly Harry realized what was going on, and stopped himself from continuing. He shouldn't have exploded like that—he knew what was coming next...

"**CAR CRASH**!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursley scuttled back to their corner. 

"How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not know' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name—"

"I do know." Harry whispered suddenly, causing all eyes in the hut to look towards his direction.

"What?" Uncle Vernon asked quietly as Harry looked up at him.

"I do know." Harry repeated as his uncle's face turned pale.

"How?" he asked as Harry began to shake.

"I just do." He replied as his uncle glared at Hagrid with his fists clenched.

"Now, you listen here, boy," Uncle Vernon snarled. "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured—and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion—asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these Wizarding types—just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end—"

At that moment, Hagrid leapt from the soft and few a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley—I'm warning you—one more word..."

At that moment, Uncle Dursley fell silent, and flattened himself against the wall again, obviously scared that Hagrid would attack him.

"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the soft which this time sagged right down to the floor.

"Hagrid, I think you've made a mistake." Harry suddenly said, but why he had said it, he had no idea.

"I can't be a wizard." Harry continued, while mentally yelling at himself for asking such a stupid question.

"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared, or angry?" Hagrid asked as Harry looked into the fire, remembering the things that have happened to him in the past.

After a few minutes, he turned back to Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.

"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard—you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."

But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight... at least... not yet...

"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish—spell books and wands and—"

"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled—"

"**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS**!" yelled Uncle Vernon.

But he had gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head. "**NEVER—**" HE THUNDERED, "**—INSULT—ALBUS—DUMBLEDORE—IN—FRONT—OF—ME!**"

He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley—and before Harry knew it, he had leaped forward and pushed the umbrella towards the direction of his uncle, away from Dudley. 

There was a flash of violet light, a sound like a fire crack, a sharp squeal and the next second you know, Uncle Vernon was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.

Aunt Petunia was in shock, as she pushed her husband into the other room—completely forgetting about Dudley in the process, she cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.

Dudley looked like he was about to burst into tears in shock that his mum had left him there in the room with Harry and Hagrid, but Harry spoke first.

"You shouldn't have done that... if I hadn't pushed the umbrella you might've gotten Dudley." Harry whispered as he looked over at his cousin, who for the first time in his life, look at Harry in gratefulness.

"Why'd yeh do tat?" Hagrid asked as Harry looked at up the giant.

"If you were mad at my uncle, you could've just attacked my uncle. You didn't have to take it out on Dudley. Although I have to admit, that was cool." Harry said as the sad expression on Hagrid's face disappeared, and a smile appeared onto it.

"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm—er—not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff—one o' the reason I was so keen ter take on the job—"

"I see." Harry said, not bothering to ask Hagrid why he wasn't supposed to use magic, but Dudley asked anyways.

"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" the fat eleven year old asked as Hagrid looked over at him.

"Oh, well—I was at Hogwarts meself but I—er—got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."

"Why were you expelled?" Harry asked, before Dudley had a chance to, afraid what the giant may do to his cousin.

"It's getting' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."

He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.

"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I've still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."

The giant yawned, before closing his eyes, and immediately falling asleep. Harry looked over at his cousin, who still had a look of both fear an shock on his eyes, and smiled slightly.

"We can share this." He offered as he held Hagrid's jacket up, Dudley nodded slightly, before walking over to Harry, and lied down onto the ground.

Harry had also sat lied down onto the ground, and placed the large jacket over both he and Dudley, and slowly fell asleep.

Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.

"It was a dream," he told himself firmly. "I dreamed that I went back in time... when I wake up... I'll be at St. Mongo's Hospital. Dumbledore will be there..."

There was suddenly a loud tapping noise, and Harry realized he wasn't dreaming. He opened his eyes, and sat up.

Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him, and slid onto Dudley, who was still asleep.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Harry looked over to the window, and saw an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.

He scrambled to his feet, and went straight to the window to jerk it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered on to the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.

"Don't do that." Harry muttered as Dudley groaned slightly, waking up from his sleep.

"Hagrid!" Harry said loudly. "There's an owl—"

"Pay him." Hagrid grunted into the sofa.

Harry immediately got to his knees, and began looking through the coat.

"What? What are you doing?" Dudley asked in a sleepy tone as he sat up.

"Help me look for some coins in here. Little bronze ones." Harry said as his cousin joined him on the search for the Wizarding money.

After a few seconds, Dudley found them, and Harry counted five of them and the owl held out its leg so he could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then it flew off through the open window.

Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up and stretched.

"Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school. Come on." Hagrid said as he got to his feet.

Harry and Dudley both got up, and Dudley handed Hagrid his cloak.

"Excuse me... but can I come with you? Dad might go crazy and starve me again." Dudley asked as Harry looked up at Hagrid.

"I'll be okay with it." Harry said as the giant nodded, and headed off towards the door.

Harry grabbed his box of cake before he and Dudley followed him outside on to the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sun light. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.

"How did you get here?" Dudley asked as he looked around for another boat.

"Flew." Said Hagrid as he picked up the boat, and dumped the water out of it before placing it back down and getting into it.

"You _flew_?" Dudley asked in shock as Hagrid nodded.

"Yeah—but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now that I've got Harry." Hagrid explained as Harry and Dudley both got onto the boat.

"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry and Dudley a sideways look. "If I was ter—er—speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"

"Of course not!" Harry said with a smile as Hagrid pulled the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat and they sped off towards land.

"Excuse me sir... um... Hagrid... but Harry doesn't have any money... my dad said he won't let him pay for it." Dudley said as Hagrid looked at him for a moment.

"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid as he scratched his head. "D'yeh think Harry's parents didn't leave 'im anything?"

"But if their house was destroyed—"

"They didn't keep their gold in the house. They kept it at Gringotts. Wizards' bank." Hagrid explained as Dudley looked at him in shock.

"Wizards have _banks_?" he asked as Hagrid nodded.

"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins. Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe—'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyways. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid said as he unfolded his newspaper, and began to read the _Daily Prophet_.

"Why'd you be mad to rob it?" Dudley asked curiously as Hagrid read his newspaper.

"Spells—enchantments," said Hagrid. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way—Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."

For a while, Dudley and Harry sat in silence as Hagrid read the paper quietly.

"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual." Hagrid muttered at last as he turned the page to continue reading.

"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Dudley asked as Hagrid grunted.

"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was so. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."

"But what does a Ministry of Magic _do_?" Dudley continued to ask.

"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country." Hagrid explained.

"Why?" Dudley asked as Harry rolled his eyes, _did he really sound that stupid five years ago_?

"_Why_? Blimey, Dudley, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."

At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbour wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper and they clambered up the stone steps on to the street.

Passers-by stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little down to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as all as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"

Dudley didn't ask anymore questions, he spent all of his energy in trying to keep up with Hagrid, along with Harry.

Finally, they arrive at the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't under 'Muggle money', as he called it, gave the notes to Harry and Dudley so they could buy the tickets.

When they got onto the train, people stared even more. Probably because Hagrid took up two seats, and began knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.

"Still got yer letter, Harry?" Hagrid asked as he counted stitches.

Harry took the parchment envelope out of his poet.

"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."

Harry unfolded a second piece of paper and began to read it to himself. Beside him, Dudley leaned over to read too, and Harry held it so both he and his cousin could read the material.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

Uniform

_First year students will require:_

_1. __Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_2. __One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

_3. __One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_4. __One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

_Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

Set Books

_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by_ _Miranda Goshawk_

            A History of Magic _by_ _Bathilda__ Bagshot_

Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling_

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch_

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore_

Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger_

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander_

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble_

Other Equipment

            _1 wand_

_            1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_            1 set glass or crystal phials_

_            1 telescope_

_            1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

"Can we buy this all in London?" Dudley asked outloud.

"If yeh know where to go." Said Hagrid.

When Hagrid, Dudley and Harry finally arrived in London, Hagrid led them around the city for around twenty minutes before they finally stoped.

"This is it," said Hagrid as he pointed at the shop, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry doubt Dudley would've been able to see it. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. But before Dudley or Harry could say a thing, Hagrid had already steered them inside.

For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old woman were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old barman, who was quite bald and looked like a gummy walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the barman reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.

"Good lord," said the barman, peering at Harry, "is this—can this be—?"

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.

"Bless my soul," whispered the old bar man. "Harry Potter... what an honour."

He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed towards Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back."

"It's good to be back Tom." Harry replied almost instantly, causing the smile on the old barman's face to widen.

Then there was a great scraping of chairs and next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.

"Doris Crockford, Mr Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Mr Potter, I'm just so proud."

"Always wanted to shake your hand—I'm all of a flutter."

"Delighted, Mr Potter, just can't tell you. Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."

"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top had fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."

"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!"

Harry shook hands again and again—Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.

A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.

"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid, "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

Harry's expression suddenly paled, as he remembered the teacher. But he kept his cool, knowing he couldn't do anything sudden.

"P—P—Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c—can't t—tell you how p—pleased I am to meet you."

"I'm glad to meet you too, Professor." Harry said slowly, trying to keep his face straight, and his voice normal.

The crowd of people around Harry, Dudley, and Hagrid wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.

"Must get on—lots ter buy. Come on Harry, Dudley."

Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time and Harry led them through the bar and out into a small walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a dustbin and a few weeds.

"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh—mind you, he's usually tremblin'."

"I see." Harry said, wanting to drop the subject on one of his most hated teachers.

"Three up... two across..." Hagrid muttered as he held his umbrella up to the wall. Harry quickly pulled Dudley back a few steps as Hagrid tapped the brick three times with the point of his umbrella.

The brick he had touched quivered—it wriggled—in the middle, a small hole appeared—it grew wider and wider—a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway on to a cobbled street which twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."

Harry wasn't really that amazed, but Dudley on the other hand, seemed to be in shock. As they stepped through the archway, both Harry and Dudley looked quickly over their shoulders and saw the archway shrink instantly back into a solid wall.

After walking for about two minutes or so, they reached a snowy-white building which towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was—

"Yeah, that's a goblin." Hagrid muttered to Harry and Dudley as they quietly walked up the white stone steps towards him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard, and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

"Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it." Hagrid said as Dudley shuddered slightly.

A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in long ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid, Dudley, and Harry made for the counter.

"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr Harry Potter's safe."

"You have his key, sir?" the goblin asked.

"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid and he started emptying his pockets on to the counter, scattering a handful of mouldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry and Dudley watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.

"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.

The goblin looked at it closely.

"That seems to be in order." He said as he handed the key back to Hagrid.

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter carefully.

"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog-biscuits into his pocket, he, Dudley, and Harry followed Griphook towards one of the doors leading off the hall.

"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Dudley asked.

"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."

Griphook held the door open for them, then led them down the narrow stone passage-way that was lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downwards and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks towards them. They climbed in—Hagrid with some difficulty—and were off.

After what seemed like ten or twenty minutes, the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.

Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry heard Dudley gasp in shock. Inside were mounds of hold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze knuts.

"All yours." Smiled Hagrid as Dudley and Harry walked into the room slowly.

Hagrid helped Harry pile some of the coins into a bag, but Harry had asked the goblin for another bag, and began filling it with Galleons.

"How come yeh getting' so much?" Hagrid asked as Harry grabbed two handfuls and stuff it into the bag.

"Getting some other stuff... I'll need a trunk won't I? Not to mention some extra reading material." Harry said.

"The gold ones are Galleons," Hagrid began to explain, "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. I think that's enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." Hagraid said as he turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"

"One speed only," said Griphook.

They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. They air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine and Dudley leant over the side to try and see what was down at the dark bottom but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.

Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.

"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Dudley asked.

"About once every ten years." Harry answered as Griphook gave him a look, but didn't ask how he knew.

Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Dudley was sure, and he leant forwards eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least—but at first he though it was empty. Harry, who knew exactly what was in there, didn't bother to look. Dudley continued to look, then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat.

One wild cart-ride later they were back in Gringotts. Harry exchanged a few galleons into pounds before leaving the bank, knowing that he'd probably need it. Once they were outside, Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money; but he knew Hagrid would lead them off to get robes first. And he was right.

"Might as well get yer uniform" said Hagrid, nodding towards _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." Harry nodded quickly and headed towards the shop with Dudley.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she asked as Harry nodded slightly.

"I also need some clothes. For outside of school. As you can see..." before Harry had a chance to finish the sentence, Madam Malkin had already lead him towards the back of the shop.

When Dudley and Harry got to the back, Harry saw a boy with a pale, pointed face standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length. Harry recognized the boy as Draco Malfoy, his worse enemy from school.

"Hullo," said the boy dully, "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," Harry said as he looked over at Dudley, and gave him a look as if to tell him to save him, but his cousin looked back at him blankly.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," Draco continued, "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"Have _you_ got your own broom?" Malfoy went on.

"Not yet. I will soon." Harry replied in a monotone voice.

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"Of course, I'm a seeker." Harry said proudly.

"I see. So do I, I'm also a seeker too—Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?" Draco asked as Harry nodded.

"Gryffindor. Both my parents were in there too." Harry said.

His reply must've shut him up easily, because they spent the next few minutes in silence.

"I saw, look at that man!" said Draco suddenly, nodding towards the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at a pan he had which held three ice cream cones, to show he couldn't come in.

"That's Hagrid, he works at Hogwarts. Really nice man." Harry said, knowing what Draco was about to say next.

"Oh, I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?" Draco asked as Harry threw him a dirty look.

"He's the gamekeeper." Harry said in a low and dangerous voice.

"Yes, exactly. I hear he's a sort of savage—lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I bet he'll be the professor teaching Care of Magical Creatures in our third year." Harry said as he continued to speak in a dangerous tone.

"Oh really? Why are you standing up for him anyways? Is he with you?" Draco asked as Harry nodded.

"Where are you parents?" Draco continued to asked as Harry glared at him.

"They're dead." Harry replied.

"Oh, sorry," Draco said, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were _our_ kind, weren't they?"

"If you were listening to what I had said earlier, you would've heard that I mentioned they were both in Gryffindor." Harry said as he rolled his eyes and looked away, obviously thinking that Draco was some sort of idiot.

"What's your name? Do you not know who I am?" Draco asked as Harry threw him another dirty look.

"I know exactly who you are Malfoy. Your parents worked for the dark lord." Harry said the last sentence in barely a whisper, so only Draco could hear.

"And as for my name, I'm sure you've heard of it. It's Potter. Harry James Potter." Harry spat out as Draco's face paled even more.

Before Draco had a chance to say something, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear." And Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to Draco, hopped down from the footstool immediately.

"Well, I'll be looking forward to seeing you at Hogwarts, I supposed." Draco said as Harry looked back at him.

"At least one of us is. I know I won't be." Harry said coldly before he and Dudley went to pay for the robes and clothes.

When they finally got out, Harry was holding tons of bags in his hands. Hagrid handed Dudley his ice cream, and he ate it up eagerly.

"Can we go get a trunk? Maybe some that can shrink? I don't want to carry this around all day." Harry said as Hagrid led them to a nearly trunk store.

Harry looked through a few of them, but in the end, bought a trunk that was quite similar to Mad-Eye Moody's. With nine compartments, and was shrinkable. It ended up to be ten galleons in the end.

They headed to buy some parchment and quills next, then they went to Flourish and Blotts to get Harry's books.

Harry had bought not only the set of books the first years were supposed to get, but also the set the six years and seventh years were supposed to get. When Hagrid asked Harry why'd he bought those, Harry just replied, "Reading Material."

Harry stored everything in his trunk, which he enlarged and shrank a few times to place the items in. Next, they went to get Harry's cauldrons, a wand holder, and brass telescopes. After that, they went to the Apothecary. Which smelled like a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. 

As Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry and Dudley looked around the shop. After they left the store, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.

"Just yer wand left—oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."

Harry felt himself go red, even though he had been through this situation once.

"You don't have to—"

"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at—an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer post an' everythin'."

Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-rbight eyes. Harry now carried a large cage which held a beautiful snowy own, fast asleep with her head under her wing. Harry had named it Hedwig, just because he knew that was the name for it. He had thanks Hagrid around a million times, and only stopped after Hagrid told him to.

"Don' mention it," Hagrid said gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys—" at that moment, Dudley coughed, and gave Harry a look of apology. "—Just Ollivanders left now—only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."

Harry smiled, he remembered when he choose his wand. He wondered if he should just ask for the wand right off the bat, or wait a few hours trying to find the right one. The last shop was narrow and shabby. 

Peeling gold letters over the door read _Ollivanders__: Makers of Find Wands since 382BC_. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single spindle chair which Hagrid sat on to wait. 

"Good morning." Said a soft voice. Dudley jumped. Hagrid also jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he quickly jumped off the spindly chair.

"Hello." Harry said awkwardly.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blind. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.

"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Evelyn inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it—it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." 

Mr Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could even see himself reflected in those misty eyes.

"And that's where..."

Mr Ollivander touched the lighting scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

"Speaking about that wand..." Harry cut in suddenly, "is there any wand that's similar to it? Say... the unicorn or phoenix tail feather came from the same animal... or something like that?"

Mr Ollivander paused for a moment and frowned, thinking.

"There is one... a very unusual combination—holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." Mr Ollivander suddenly turned around to grab the wand, and returned in a few seconds to hand the wand to Harry.

"_Wingardium__ Leviosa!_" Harry said in barely a whisper as he swished his wand, a nearly box slow floated up into the air, and a small grin appeared onto his face.

Suddenly, a stream of read and gold sparks short from the end like firework, throwing dancing sports of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped as Mr Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..."

He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious..."

"It's brother gave me the scar huh?" Harry said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How did you—"

"I requested to see a wand that was similar to You-Know-Whos." Harry said with a smile.

"Of course. Well, the wand is seven galleons." Mr Ollivander said as Harry nodded, and paid for the wand before leaving the shop.

The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry, Dudley, and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawping at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shape packages, with the sleeping snowy owl on Harry's lap. 

Up another escalator, out into Paddington station Harry only realised where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder. He had bought Harry and Dudley both a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them.

"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," Hagrid said as he handed Harry an envelope, which Harry pocked. "First o' September—King's Cross—it's all on yer ticket. Any problem with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me… See yeh soon, Harry."

With that, Dudley and Harry got onto the train. They sat down onto the chair, and looked out the window to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight, but as Harry blinked, Hagrid disappeared.

"Harry—do you think mum and dad would be mad?" Dudley asked as Harry looked over at him.

"I wonder if they even got off that rock yet." Harry said with a grin.

"They've probably got half of London looking for me." Dudley smiled.

"Just wondering..." Harry said suddenly as he looked over at his cousin.

"Are you going to stop bullying me the rest of this summer?" Harry asked as Dudley's smile widened.

"Don't worry. I won't. The reason I treated you like that in the first place was because dad and mum told me to. They said you were some sort of freak. But—being a wizard is cool! I wish I was one!" Dudley with as Harry laughed.

"Oh yeah... Dudley, you might want to go on a diet this year... otherwise you'd spend the next summer eating graph fruit." Harry said as Dudley looked at him in a look a shock.

"No! Mum and dad would never do that!" Dudley stated.

"Dudley, I'm not joking... they really will do make you go on a diet... if you don't believe me, you can continue eating as much as you want this year. But I will be getting an emergency supply for food ready for next summer, in case we need it." Harry said as Dudley nodded his head at him.

"I'll start working out myself... see if I can lose a few pounds. I can barely run anyways." Dudley muttered as Harry smiled.

For the next few minutes, Harry and Dudley talked about the Wizarding world, and Hogwarts. When they finally got home, an hour later—after taking what seemed like a gazillion buses, they crept into the house silently.

 They woke up the next day to Aunt Petunia's shrieking.

"**DUDLEY! THANK GOD YOU'RE OK!**" she had screamed as Harry sprung out of his bed in shock, his wand in his hand, ready for action. He groaned when he realized what was going on, and decided he might as well get up to see what's going on.

He noticed Uncle Vernon was there too, the pig tail sticking out of his butt, and his face quite pale.

"Hello." He said as the room went silent, and the three pairs of eyes shot towards his direction. A smile was on his face, and it didn't disappear at all. 

"You—" Uncle Vernon growled as he got ready to attack, but Harry held his wand out in front of him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He whispered quietly as his uncle froze.

"You wouldn't dare..." his uncle whispered, but Harry just smiled and looked over at Dudley who winked at him quickly. Only causing his smile to widen.

"What did you do to Dudley yesterday?" Aunt Petunia asked as Harry looked over at her.

"Went to London. Walked around, got my school material. Ate some food. That was about it." Harry said as the expression on his aunt and uncle's face turned paler then it already was.

"If he's hurt at all... if he's... I'll kill you boy." Uncle Vernon threatened as Harry pointed his wand at him dangerous.

"Don't make me finish what Hagrid started. It's weird enough having you walk around with a pig's tail sticking out of your butt. Imagine what the neighbours would say if we suddenly got a pet pig." Harry said as his uncle's face turned red, then blue, then back to the original pale color.

"You wouldn't dare." He whispered as Harry smiled.

"Don't test me. You wouldn't want to know the results." Harry whispered as he smiled slightly, before leaving the room.

Harry had spent the next few hours reading through his first year books. Everything in there seem pretty simple compared to the material he had learned already. But still, he did what Hermione would've done. He memorized the books. Word by word. Then he moved onto the sixth year books.

He knew that he was going to have a tough year, going through everything he had learned already, not to mention the Philosopher's Stone. He would have to become friends with Ron and Hermione again, the same way he did before—meaning he had to go through the troll incident again.

Sighing as he placed his books into his trunk, he got up to leave the room. He had his wand with him, well hidden within his brand new clothes. He was now wearing a pair of brand new jeans, a white t-shirt, and even a brand new pair of runners. He and Dudley had stopped by a nearby shoe store to buy some on their way home yesterday night.

Inside his pockets, were enough pounds to last him for the summer. He was planning to go work out for the rest of the summer... but didn't know what he could do. Then the idea fell upon him... Karate.

He had found Dudley in his room, and had told him about the idea. The young boy agreed to tag along, and decided to suggest the idea to his parents. Uncle Vernon was okay with it, glad that his son was willing to go out and exercise, but was upset at the fact that Dudley had suggested that Harry tagged along with him.

But his unhappiness disappeared when Dudley mumbled something about "Beating the heck out of Harry afterwards." And immediately agreed to the karate classes. Aunt Petunia was to drive them to a nearby Judo, and they were to take classes for the next month or so, at least, until the summer was over.

And so the summer continued. Everyday Harry would wake up at 6 am, read for two hours, before going down and eating breakfast at 8. Then he and Dudley would both go to Karate classes from 9~11:30. From 11:30~2:00pm, they would go an eat lunch time, and maybe go play some basketball or hockey. Then they'd go back to the karate lessons, from 2:00pm~5:30pm.

By the time summer was nearly over, Dudley had lost over half his weight, and was now considered an 'average' boy. Both he and Harry were in great shape, and Harry had gotten contact lenses, knowing that it would probably be easier while he was at Hogwarts. The two boys had both advanced to the black belt, in a very short amount of time, since they were so hard working.

Then, Aunt Petunia even went out and got him some cover up make up, to cover up for the lightning bolt scar he had on his forehead. It took him a while to get used to how to use it, but after a few days, he got the hang of it, and you could barely tell he had a scar afterwards.

On the last day of August Harry through he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station next day, so he went down to the living-room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, before talking. 

"Um... Uncle Vernon... I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow... to get to Hogwarts." He said as his Uncle grunted to show that he was listening.

"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" Harry asked as his Uncle grunted again. Harry took it as a yes.

"Thank you." Harry said as he turned to go back upstairs.

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" his uncle asked.

Harry didn't say anything.

"Where is this school, anyways?" he asked as Harry frowned.

"It's well hidden by magic, only wizards and witches can find it. So if I tell you, there's be no point anyways." Harry said as he heard his uncle grunt.

"Needed to go there anyways... this ruddy tail is driving me crazy." Uncle Vernon growled as Harry tried hard not to laugh while he ran up the stairs to his room.


	2. Back to Hogwarts

**Title: **Time Warp: Year One

**Author: **Laen

**Chapter: **(2) Back to Hogwarts

**Summary: **Harry goes back to Hogwarts, meets Ron and Hermione, and gets into a fight with Malfoy

**Disclaimer:** All characters below belong to Joanne K. Rowling; the idea of Harry going back in time came from Back to the Future. 

**Author's Note:** New chappie! Quick huh? I'll just say I got a few reviews telling me to update, **FAST**, so I thought, what the heck! Why not? Don't worry; I plan for this chapter to be about the same size as the first one. Not too long, and not too short~ and remember, **READ AND REVIEW! **It _helps_ me with my writer's block and allows me to update faster!****

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Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes—he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safety in her cage, and then went to Dudley's room to wake him up.

"Just another five minutes mum..." Dudley groaned as Harry shook his cousin awake.

"Wake up Dudley! It's five thirty in the morning! The sun's up already!" Harry said as his cousin groaned unhappily.

"It's five thirty in the morning and you're awake, are you mad?" Dudley asked in disbelief as Harry laughed happily.

"Come on, we can practice some karate moves before I leave for Hogwarts—god knows when I'll have another lesson. Come on!" Harry pleaded as his cousin rolled off his bed and headed towards the bathroom.

"Meet you in the back yard by the green house in twenty minutes." Dudley muttered as Harry nodded, and hurried off towards the kitchen to begin cooking breakfast.

He knew he probably woke everyone else in the house with the smell of the delicious food, but he was in too good a mood to be upset when Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon yelled at him. True to his word, Dudley appeared in the kitchen twenty minutes later, and immediately headed outside to get ready for their 'training session'. As they practiced their moves, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia watched.

"Go Dudley! Show him whose boss!" Uncle Vernon shouted as Harry ducked one of Dudley's punches with ease.

"My Dudley's all grown up." Aunt Petunia sobbed as both Harry and Dudley struggled not to burst out laughing.

After around forty-five minutes, they stopped, and went inside to eat their breakfast. When they were finished, Harry and Dudley hurried upstairs to get Harry's trunk into the Dursley's car. Uncle Vernon was driving, although he was sitting on a small pillow to make sure he didn't squish his tail.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Dudley helped Harry dump his trunk on to a trolley and wheeled it in to the station for him; and at the same time, looking for the right Platform.

"There's platform nine—and platform ten. Where's platform nine and three quarters?" Dudley asked as Harry smiled at him.

"I'm supposed to walk straight at the barrier between the two platforms. If we actually had a platform nine and three quarters, I'm sure the muggles would get confused." Harry explained as Dudley nodded.

"Well, I guess I'll see you next summer." Dudley said unhappily as Harry shook his head.

"Maybe not. I can come back from Christmas and Easter Break." Harry said as his cousin lightened up immediately.

"Really? That'd be great!" Dudley stated as Harry chuckled.

"Well... I'll see ya then." Harry said as he held his hand out to shake his cousins, not knowing what else to do.

"I'll miss you Harry, I'm sure mum and dad will too—they're just too scared to say it." Dudley said as he shook Harry's hand and gave him a quick hug.

"Bye then." Harry said as he grabbed his trolley, and pushed it towards the barrier between platform nine and platform ten.

"Good bye Harry!" Dudley shouted just before Harry ran through the barrier. 

'_See ya Dudley_.' Harry thought to himself as he closed his eyes, and he went through the barrier.

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sigh over head said _Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock_. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words _Platform Nine and Three Quarters_ on it. He had done it. He was back in the Wizarding world again.

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.

The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his trolley off down the platform in search of an empty seat, knowing that the last compartment at the end of the train was empty.

He quickly shrunk the trunk, and stuck it into his pocket, before going into the compartment with Hedwig. Within a few minutes, Harry heard a familiar voice outside speaking.

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet!"

"Great idea though, thanks Mum."

"It's _not funny_. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry; ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up." Ron's familiar voice cried out in annoyance.

Harry immediately looked out the window with a giant grin on his face. It was the Weasley! A loud whistle suddenly sounded, and the three boys clambered on to the train. They leant out of the window for her to kiss them goodbye and Harry watched as Ginny began to cry.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"_George!_"

"Only joking, Mum."

The train began to move. Harry saw Mrs Weasley waving and Ginny, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, and then she fell back and waved.

The door of the compartment suddenly slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing to the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full." Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. 

"I'm Ron, Ronald Weasley. Who're you?" the redhead asked as he held his hand out in front of him.

"Harry Potter." Harry replied as he grasped Ron's hand and shook it, ignoring the shocked expression on Ron's face.

"I don't see your scar though." Ron said as he looked at Harry weirdly.

Harry removed a tissue from his pocket, and wiped the cover up from his forehead, to show Ron his scar.

"So that's where You—Know—Who—?" 

"Yes," said Harry, "the only thing I remember is my mum screaming and a burst of green light though."

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realised what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.

"Are all your family wizards?" ask Harry, who wanted to become friends with Ron again as quickly as he could.

"Er—yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him.

"So you must know loads of magic already." Harry said as Ron shook his head slightly.

"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"

"Horrible—well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle were—my cousin's a lot nicer now. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers." Harry stated, remembering what he had said when he had first met Ron.

"Five," Ron corrected. Harry noticed he looked very gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left—Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really gunny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat."

Harry's face turned a bit pale as Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff—I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.

"You're lucky. The Dursley's gave me Dudley's old clothes and I ended up getting old socks and a coat hanging for my birthday." Harry said as Ron looked up at him in disbelief.

"...and until Hagrid told me, I didn't even know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort—"

Ron gasped.

"What?" asked Harry, as he suddenly remembered people were scared to speak the dark lord's name.

"_You said You-Know-Who's name!_" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have though you, of all people—"

"I'm not trying to be _brave_ or anything, saying the name." Harry cut in immediately, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet I'm the worst in the class."

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.

Around half-past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and asked, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Harry got up to his feet, and walked over there, ignoring Ron's muttering about he'd brought sandwiches.

Harry bought three boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, a dozen Chocolate Frogs, and a bit of everything, knowing that Ron was probably starving.

Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it on to an empty seat.

"Hungry, are you?" Ron asked.

"Not really, I've never tasted any of these. Got any idea what they are?" Harry asked as he held up a pack of chocolate frogs. He had to stick to the conversation he and Ron had five years back, if he could remember half of it.

"They're not _really_ frogs, are they?" Harry asked as Ron shook his head.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is, I'm missing Agrippa.

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know—Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect—famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long crooked nose and flowing silver hair, beard and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name _Albus Dumbledore._

"So _this_ is Dumbledore!" said Harry.

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa—"

"Help yourself, I'll never be able to finish all of this myself anyways." Harry said as he turned the card over and began reading:

            _Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts._

_            Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern_

_            times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his _

_defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, _

_for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's _

_blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, _

_Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys _

_chamber music and tenpin bowling._

Harry turned the card back over and saw that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. Next, he went to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour—you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once."

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully and bit into a corner.

"Bleaaargh—see? Sprouts."

They had a good time eating the Every Flavour Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, and sardine and was even brave enough to nibble the end of a funny grey one he knew was pepper.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three quarters came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

"No, but sit down and eat something. I'll help you find it right now. What's your name?" Harry asked, already knowing what the boy was going to answer.

"Neville, Neville Longbottom." He said as he sat down next to the pile of treats.

"I see. I'm Harry Potter." Harry said as he held his hand out to shake Neville's hand.

"And I'm Ron Weasley." Ron said as he too held his hand out to shake Neville's hand.

"Wow, I've heard of you from my grams. You're famous!" Neville said as he shook Harry and Ron's hands in excitement.

"Fame doesn't come easy. There's always a price to pay." Harry whispered with a sigh. Which caused Neville and Ron to shut up.

"Anyways, let me find that toad for you." Harry said as he took his wand out, he had just raised it when the compartment door slid open again. And a girl stood there.

"Oh hey Neville—have you found your frog yet?" she asked as Harry froze in his actions, staring at her.

Hermione.

For a few seconds, Harry blanked out, in his mind, memories flashed by, and he shut his eyes for a moment to think about them.

"Excuse me—are you doing magic?" Hermione's voice suddenly shook Harry out of his thoughts.

"Yea." He replied as a smile appeared onto her face. She sat down.

"Let's see it, then." She said, waiting eagerly.

"_Accio Neville's Toad._" Harry whispered as he flicked his wand, a few seconds later, a toad went zooming into the compartment and into Harry's hands.

"Here you go." Harry said as he handed the toad to Neville, who looked at him happily.

"Wow that was good! I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me too. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard—I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough—I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

She said all of this very fast, and as she did, a smile appeared onto Harry's face.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron muttered, stunned that she had learnt all the set books off by heart.

"Harry Potter." Harry said as he held his hand out politely waiting for a handshake.

The moment Hermione made contact with his hand, Harry felt a small shock flow through his body, and his smile widen.

"Are you really?" asked Hermione, "I know all about you, of course—I've got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in _Modern Magical History_ and _The Rise and Hall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century._"

"Am I?" asked Harry, still staring at Hermione in a trance.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in—"

"Gryffindor." Harry cut in immediately, "I'm sure all of us will end up there. Ron—don't look like that, you won't get placed in Slytherin. None of us will—I hope anyways."

"What do you mean—you hope?" Neville asked curiously.

"I reckon You-Know-Who transferred some of his magic over to me when he gave me this ruddy scar." Harry said as he showed Neville and Hermione his scar.

"I'm able to speak to snakes. It's kind of freaky. I'd probably drop dead of the sorting hat placed me into Slytherin." Harry said gloomily as Ron, Neville and Hermione all gasped.

"You can talk to snakes?" Ron asked as Harry nodded slightly.

"Not that fun. Unless I'm stunk in the middle of the jungle and there's evil snakes all around trying to kill me—then I'd be able to stop them." Harry chuckled.

Harry's bad joke seemed to have lightened the mood, and the frown on the three first year's faces all disappeared.

Suddenly, the door to the compartment slid open yet again, and three boys entered it. Harry recognized them as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Hello—Harry Potter." Draco said as Harry stood up.

"Malfoy." Harry replied as Hermione, Ron, and Neville followed his actions.

"This here's Crabbe and this is Goyle." Draco introduced as he pointed to his bodyguards.

"I see." Harry said as Malfoy ignored him and continued to speak.

"And of course, you know me. Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children they can afford." Draco said as he turned back to Harry.

"You'll soon find out some Wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Draco stated as he held his hand out to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't bother to take it.

"I understand what you mean by some Wizarding families being better than others. Just by what I see right here. I'm sure Ron's family is a million times better then yours. After all, they didn't stoop to the level of becoming death eaters." Harry said in a cold voice as Draco's cheeks turned slightly pink.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasley and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you." By the time Draco had finished, Harry noticed that Ron's face had turned as red as his hair.

"Say that again." Ron whispered.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered as Neville whimpered, and Hermione shook her head at him.

"Unless you get out now Malfoy, you and your friends will be spending the first few days at Hogwarts in the hospital wing." Harry threatened as Malfoy snickered.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Goyle reached towards the Chocolate Frogs by Ron and Neville, and before Ron could do anything, Harry sprung forward and elbowed Goyle across the jaw with his right elbow. He spun around and held his fist out to punch Malfoy, but stopped only inches away from his face. As Goyle cried out in pain, gasps of shock could be heard from everyone else in the compartment.

"I'm warning you Malfoy. Out." Harry whispered in a dangerous tone as Draco glared back at him angrily, before taking a step back, and walking away. Draco's two body guards followed, and Harry closed the compartment once again before sitting back down.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron cried out as Hermione gave Harry a look.

"You're going to get in trouble for fighting even before we get there!" she muttered as Harry shook his head.

"Malfoy would never admit to getting beat up by me. Anyways, if I didn't kick him out, he'll be insulting you next." Harry explained as Hermione looked at him curiously.

"Why would he insult me?" she asked as Harry sighed deeply.

"I met him down at Diagon Alley around a month ago—he thinks that wizards and witches who aren't pure bloods shouldn't be allowed to go to Hogwarts." Harry noted.

"Pure bloods—"

"People who come from a Wizarding family." Neville explained.

"I think we're going to arrive at Hogwarts soon—we'd better get into our robes." Harry said to Ron, who nodded. Hermione and Neville left the compartment, and within a few seconds, Ron and Harry were both already in their long robes.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." A voice echoed through the train. Harry took his trunk out of his pocket, and enlarged it.

Ron and Harry both crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets, and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years! All right there, Harry?"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

"C'mon, follow me—anymore firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!" and Harry smiled at the reactions of the students.

The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, point to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione all sat in the same boat.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, "Right then—FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" asked Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You here, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right—the rest of the school must already be here—but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common-rooms.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber. Harry sighed.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Hermione asked Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think. My brother Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." Ron replied.

A few seconds later, Harry heard the people all around him gasp, scream, and jump in fear. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to five him a second change—"

"My fear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost—I saw, what are you all doing here?"

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind me, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry felt the butterflies in his stomach, the last time he had felt this way was—when he was sorted. He felt excitement flow through him as they entered the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in _Hogwarts, a History_."

Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched an frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth—and the hat began to sing:

            _"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_            But don't judge on what you see,_

_            I'll eat myself if you can find_

_            A smarter hat than me._

_            You can keep your bowlers black,_

_            Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_            For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_            And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred; he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah."

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause—

"**HUFFLEPUFF**!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"**HUFFLEPUFF**!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"**RAVENCLAW**!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Then Professor McGonagall called "Finch-Fletchley, Justin" up, who became a Hufflepuff. "Finnigan, Seamus" was next, and he sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"**GRYFFINDOR**!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.

Neville was sorted into Gryffindor, and when it got to Malfoy turn, the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed **"SLYTHERIN**!"

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. There weren't many people left now.

"Moon" ..., "Nott" ..., "Parkinson" ..., and then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" ..., then "Perks, Sally-Anne" ..., and then, at last—

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like hissing fires all over the hall.

"_Potter_, did she say?"

"_The_ Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

"Ah... Mr. Potter... Not your first time here is it?" said a small voice in his ear. "Hm... I wonder how that happened. Anyways, better not waste any time. I see you're supposed to be in **GRYFFINDOR**!"

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked towards the Gryffindor table with a huge grin on his face. He noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry sat down across from Hermione.

Harry barely paid attention to the end of the sorting, until he realized Ron had just been sorted into Gryffindor. Then he began clapping like mad as Ron sank into the chair next to him.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabani, Blaise" was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the sorting Hat away.

Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everyone clapped and cheered as Harry chuckled. Food suddenly appeared in front of him, and he immediately dug in and ate hungrily. As nearly headless Nick floated by, Harry continued to eat, not bothering to join in on the conversation he already knew so well of.

For the next half an hour or so, everyone talked and ate. Finally, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again, and the hall fell silent.

"Ahem—just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry listened as a few people laughed, and questions flowed around waiting for answers, but he kept silent the whole way through.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore as he gave his wand a little flick, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high about the table and twisted itself snake-like into words.

"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the school bellowed:

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with some filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. After what seemed like five minutes of walking, they stopped at the end of a corridor, where a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress hung.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forwards to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it—Neville needed a leg up—and found themselves in the Gryffindor common-room. After Percy directed them all to their proper dormitories, Harry fell onto his bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next day, when Harry woke up, whispers, pointing, and staring followed him throughout the castle from class to class. Harry had helped all of the Gryffindors out quite a lot by showing them to the correct classrooms, ignoring all the questions people threw at him about how he knew the way.

The first few days passed easily for Harry, and he had a hard time not falling asleep in class, but he surprised all of his teachers when he answered their questions correctly after being caught half awake. Friday came quite quickly, and double potions with the Slytherins arrived sadly.

Harry had received a letter from Hagrid that morning asking him to come to his hut in the afternoon, and he replied with a simple yes. Then he headed off towards the dungeons for potions class.

Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the register, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.

"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new—_celebrity_."

Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word—like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. 

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching their mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper to death—if you aren't as big as a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Silence followed this little speech, and Harry waited for Snape to explode on him.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"It makes a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death." Harry answer immediately, before Hermione even had a chance to raise her hand. Snape's face twitched when he heard this.

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" he asked next.

"It's a stone taken from the stomach of a goat that can save you from most poisons." Harry replied, once again, giving more information then he needed too, causing Snape's face to twitch again.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape asked next as a small smile appeared onto Harry's face. He was expecting this.

"There is no difference between monkshood and wolfsbane, they're the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite." Harry said as he noticed many Gryffindors around him smile happily.

"Well? Why are you all copying that down?" Professor Snape cried out as there was sudden rummaging for quills and parchment.

Later on in the class, Snape had placed them all into pairs, and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. Harry, who was working next to Neville and Seamus, began whispering instructions to Neville, who had no idea what to do.

By the end of the potions class—an hour later, all of the Gryffindors had a perfect potion, while half the Slytherins were being lectured. Gryffindor hadn't earned any points, while Slytherin had earned around ten for being 'educated'. 

Next, Ron and Harry went to Hagrid's hut to have tea with him. Harry listened in on Hagrid and Ron's conversation on Charlie's work with dragons while he picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cosy. It was a cutting from the _Daily Prophet:_

**_GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST_**

_            Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown._

_            Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault had in fact been emptied that same day._

_            "But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your nose out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts' spokesgoblin this afternoon._

Harry kept silent for the rest of the afternoon, and only spoke when he was questioned. He knew what was in there. He knew who was trying to steal it. But he didn't bother to talk, at all.

*****

The following week, Gryffindor and Slytherin had the wonderful pleasure of learning how to ride a broom together. Harry had been looking forward to flying more than anything else, since he knew he would be placed onto the Quidditch team after the lesson.

It was that morning, that everything started according the plan... or... history, you could say.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and show them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things—this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns read—oh..." his face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "... you've forgotten something..."

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hands—causing Harry and Ron to jump to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy—especially Harry, but professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

"What's going on?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."

Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.

"Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.

"Stick our your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up'!"

"**UP**!" Everyone shouted.

Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground and Neville's hadn't moved at all.

"Hermione—" Harry whispered as the girl looked up at him, "just say up, not in a commanding tone, I mean... normally you know?"

Hermione gave him a confused look before replying.

"What do you mean? Just say up?" the moment she had finished the sentence, the broomstick flew up into her hands. She stared at it in surprise, then looked back at the grinning Harry and thanked him.

"No problem." Harry replied happily.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle—three—two—"

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle—twelve feet—twenty feet. Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and—

**WHAM**—a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher until Harry pulled his wand out and shouted "_Accio_". He then turned to Madam Hooch, who was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.

"Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy—it's alright, up you get."

She turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say "Quidditch". Come on, dear."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him. No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" he said as the other Slytherins joined in.

"Shut up Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never though _you'd_ like fat little cry babies, Parvati."

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that here, Malfoy." Harry said loudly as everyone stopped talking to watch.

Malfoy smiled nastily.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect—how about—up a tree?"

"How about you give it here or I'll smash your face in like I promised on the train to Hogwarts?" Harry threatened, but Malfoy had leapt on to his broomstick and taken off. A smile appeared onto Harry's face when he saw this.

"Come and get it, Potter!" He shouted as Harry mounted the broom and got ready to kick off.

"No!" shouted Hermione Granger, but Harry had already left the ground speeding towards Malfoy, who was shocked at how good Harry could fly.

"Give it here Malfoy—or I'll knock you off that broom" Harry shouted as Malfoy sneered.

"Oh, yeah?" Malfoy said, but he was beginning to look worried.

Harry shot towards him, and punched him hard in the ribs as he flew by, causing Malfoy to gasp out in pain. He made a sharp about turn and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy." Harry said as Malfoy's face turned grim.

"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back towards the ground.

Harry sped forward, leaning downwards and gathering speed in a steep dive,  racing the ball—wind whistled in his ears, mingled with the screams of people watching—he stretched out his hand—a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently on to the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in his fist.

"**HARRY POTTER**!"

A smile appeared onto Harry's face, although Professor McGonagall was running towards them. He got to his feet, and handed the Remembrall to Ron.

"Give that to Neville, I don't think I'll be able to." He said as Ron's face darkened.

"_Never_—in all my time at Hogwarts—"

Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "—how _dare_ you—might have broken your neck—"

"But I didn't." Harry cut in, before everyone began to talk.

"It wasn't his fault, Professor—"

"Be quiet, Miss Patil—"

"But Malfoy—"

"That's _enough_, Mr Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."

Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, but merely smiled back at them happily, causing them all to frown in confusion. Harry followed Professor McGonagall in silence, waiting to meet Wood.

Finally, they stopped outside Professor Flitwick's classroom.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" Professor McGonagall asked as Oliver Wood stepped through the door looking confused.

"Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry.

"In here."

Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom which was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.

"Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.

"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood—I've found you a Seeker." Professor McGonagall said as Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.

"Are you serious, Professor?" he asked as the transfiguration professor nodded.

"Absolutely, the boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"

Harry nodded silently.

"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."

Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.

"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes—" Harry cut in before Professor McGonagall had a chance to speak.

"You're the captain of the Gryffindor team aren't you?" he asked as Oliver nodded.

"He's just the build for a seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. "Light—speedy—we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor—a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."

"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in the last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..."

Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry.

"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you."

Then she suddenly smiled.

"Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."

*****

"You're _joking_."

It was dinner time. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.

"_Seeker_?" he said. "But first year _never_—you must be the youngest house player in about—"

"—a century," said Harry, shovelling pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon. "Wood told me."

Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry.

"I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."

Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry and hurried over.

"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too—Beaters."

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

"Anyways, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."

Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"Probably around December, for Christmas holiday." Harry smiled as Draco glared at him.

"I doubt that—"

"How about you get out of my face before I beat the crap out of you Malfoy?" Harry threatened as Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward, fists ready.

"I'd take you on any time on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only—no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course, just wondering if you'd chicken out—if you want a true Wizard's duel, how about one in front of the whole school? I can make arrangement with Dumbledore—so we can duel tonight after dinner in the Quidditch fields—in front of the school." Harry said as Draco's face paled.

"Go ahead." He whispered as Harry turned around, and headed over to the headmaster.

"Excuse me Professor Dumbledore—but are we allowed proper wizard duels at Hogwarts? Ones that are watched over by the staff, and school?" Harry asked as Dumbledore looked back at him curiously.

"Of course—there are a few rules to the school duels though—the three unforgivable curses aren't allowed." Dumbledore explained as Harry nodded and turned back to Malfoy, who was still standing there staring back at him in shock.

"Draco Malfoy has just challenged me to a duel. He was suggesting a duel for tonight around midnight, but that would be after hours. So I was just wondering if we could duel after dinner, in the Quidditch field." Harry said Dumbledore smiled.

"Of course, I would like to see how well the first years have advanced to." He said as he stood up to speak to all the students.

"Everyone, I have just received some news. Those who have nothing to do this evening after dinner time, feel free to come down to the Quidditch field. We are having an official Wizarding duel between Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy. Although a few rules do apply. The duel ends when the first wizard falls, not when the first wizard dies. You understand that right?" Dumbledore asked as Harry nodded.

"Very well, we will be looking forward to this evening's duel." Professor Dumbledore said as everyone in the Great Hall began to whisper and talk. Harry walked back towards Draco, who looked like he was about to faint from shock.

"See you on the battle field. No seconds. Good luck." Harry whispered as the Slytherin took a few steps back slowly, before glaring at him.

"Yes, good luck indeed Potter. You'll need it." He said as he smirked at Harry, before walking away.

"Harry! Why'd you do that? We don't know enough magic yet!" Ron said as Harry sat back down at the table.

"I know a few spells that can knock him off his feet for a while." Harry said as he took a bite of his cold pie.

"Harry—what you did... that was pretty smart." Harry looked up to see Hermione Granger standing there.

"Thanks." Harry said as Ron mumbled something along the lines of "Can't a person eat in peace in this place?"

"It's a lot better then wandering around the school at night—since I won't lose Gryffindor any point if I'm caught. Not to mention if Malfoy backs out, he'll look like an idiot." Harry smiled as Hermione sat down beside him.

"That's brilliant." Hermione said as she helped herself to a piece of pie.

The evening came quite quickly, and when Harry stepped onto the Quidditch field he noticed that nearly everyone in the school was here. There wasn't a seat that hadn't been taken in the stands. There was even people standing on the fields since there wasn't enough space.

Suddenly, Dumbledore's loud voice was heard throughout the stadium.

"Students, please take your seats... Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy, please take your positions on the field. The duel will begin in three minutes. As you all know, this duel will have no seconds. The teachers and I have decided that whoever wins this duel will earn their house one hundred house points. Also, we will be able to see how well the first years have advanced in the last few weeks."

Harry hurried onto the field, and heard a cry of loud cheering come from the stands, and a bit of booing from the Slytherins. Harry watched as Slytherin walked onto the field, the Slytherins cheered, but it was covered by the booing from the remaining three houses.

"Scared Potter?" Draco asked as Harry sneered at him.

"You wish."

Two minutes until the duel...

One minute...

It had begun.

Draco had started by using a disarming spell, which Harry ducked easily before using his spells.

"Expelliarmus!" he said in barely a whisper as Draco ducked the spell by rolling out of the way. Cheering could be heard from the Slytherins, but Harry was just warming up.

"Rictusempra!" Harry shouted as Draco flew backwards and landed with a crunch.

"Come on Potter, is that the best you can do?" Draco asked as he struggled to get to his feet.

"No, that was only a starters meal." Harry said as he smirked at the first year.

"Tarantallegra!" Draco shouted as Harry ducked the curse and threw a few more curses at him.

"Furnunculus! Densaugeo! Diffindo! Reducto!" Harry shouted as four different spells, curse, and hexes were shot off towards Draco, who made quite a attempt to duck them all, but failed.

He fell to the ground once more, but struggled to get back onto the ground.

"Surrender? Malfoy?" Harry asked as Draco got to his feet.

"Never." He whispered as he held his wand out to attack.

"Impedimental—"

"Stupefy!" Harry finished as Draco fell back onto the ground for the last time, unconscious.

"And the winner is Harry Potter! Gryffindor has just earned themselves one hundred house points. Congratulations! And Mr. Potter, good choice of spells." Dumbledore said as the whole stadium burst out cheering.

"Way to go Harry!" Ron, Neville, and half the Gryffindor house shouted as they ran towards him, purposely stepping on Malfoy in the process.

"Nice going!" Percy said as Harry smiled back.

"How did you know half those spells though? You're not supposed to learn those until you're in your fifth year." Percy said as Harry ignored him.

"You know something no one else does Potter..." Percy whispered to himself. "And I'll find out what it is, if it's the last thing I'll do."

*****

**A/N**: _Hope you like that chapter! It took me SIX HOURS TO WRITE! About the same amount of time as the last chapter. But since the weekends are over, the next update might be on Saturday or something. But keep reviewing and it might be earlier! Answers to reviews are below, and please, **REVIEW**_!

*****
    
    swordmaster mage- If Harry doesn't go through the first five years at Hogwarts somewhat similar to what he had gone through originally, Voldemort may end up not coming back, and for all he knows, his feelings for Hermione might disappear.
    
    Yokiyen- Ah... you shall see... you shall see... ^^ Harry is going back to the Dursleys for Christmas though.
    
    Siripiritus- *Grins* Why thank you for that review! It completely lightened my day! Don't worry, I have that habit too, I'm trying quite hard to break it at this moment.
    
    knot2be- You're not the only one who reviewed about that, I'm gonna go back and change that later... to whatever belt comes after white. Is it yellow? I'm not sure... I'll have to check with my friends later. 
    
    Ametyst- Well, if you look up, you'll see that I'm going to change it someone soon, I've no idea when, but I'll try
    
    TatraMegami- I've read quite a few fanfics where Dudley was nice, so I though... why not? ^^ and I'm sure that this new chapter has answered your question about Harry acting average or being smart~
    
    Lmill123- I admire the friendship that Harry, Hermione, and Ron have, and I don't plan on ruining it anytime soon. Although Harry will be siding with Hermione a lot more then usual
    
    Jade- Same thing I said to TatraMegami, I've read fanfics with Dudley being nice, so I thought I might as well throw that in. After all, I'm sure Harry'll do anything to avoid being 'caged' in during his next summer.
    
    Thanks to those who reviewed: PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, LdyKiya, Anton, Nicoletta, potter-man1, MerlinHalliwell, Nightwing 509, Devonny, Assur-2, Genesis
    
    **Author's Note:** _Sorry for being a day late! I've got a pro-d day tomorrow, meaning no school, so I'm hoping to update a chapter on all my stories, with the exception of this one, since it takes six hours to write one chapter. I'll update chapter three on either Saturday or Sunday, at the latest Monday. My internet's been kinda screwed, so I've got no idea. Anyways, **REVIEW!**_


	3. Philospher's Stone

**Title: **Time Warp: Year One

**Author: **Laen

**Chapter: **(3) The Philosopher's Stone

**Summary: **Midnight battle, bumps into Fluffy... Harry makes a little slip about his feelings to Hermione. And a bit of Quidditch.

**Disclaimer:** All characters below belong to Joanne K. Rowling; the idea of Harry going back in time came from Back to the Future. 

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys like this chapter... and please, REVIEW!****

****

*****

"Potter!" Harry turned around to see Draco Malfoy glaring at him angrily, with Crabbe and Goyle by his side as body guards.

"Yes? Draco?" Harry asked as he threw Malfoy a dirty look.

"Re-match! This time, without a large audience! Trophy room, midnight. Be there Gryffindor, or you'll regret the day you messed with a Malfoy—"

"I already regret it, after all I had to see _your_ ugly face. Causing my eyes to nearly go blind." Harry said sarcastically as Ron burst out laughing, and Hermione tried to hide her smile.

"What are you laughing at Weasel? And you—Granger—wipe that smile off your face you mudbl—" Before Draco could finish the sentence, Harry had grabbed him by the collar of his robes, and slammed him into the nearest wall angrily.

"One more word Malfoy—just one more word, and I swear, I'll land you into the hospital wing faster then you can say 'ouch'. That's a promise—and if I ever hear you call any other student by that nickname, I'll personally break your face." Harry threatened in a cold tone as Draco's face paled even more.

"Midnight. Trophy Room. Prove your case there. Now get your dirty hands off me." Draco snarled as Harry let him go immediately.

"See you there then Malfoy—and you'd better be prepared—because that duel we just had—that was _nothing_ compared to what I can do." Harry stated as Draco sneered before turning around and walking away.

When the Slytherins had disappeared, Hermione spoke up.

"Harry, you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lost Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business." snapped Ron angrily. "Good bye."

Hermione stood standing there, and Harry sighed, not knowing what to say.

"I have to go tonight—"

"Why? Just because Malfoy told you too—"

"Because he insulted you!" Harry shouted in reply, causing Hermione to shut up.

Harry realized his slip immediately, and easily covered the tracks with the easiest comment.

"He insulted all muggle borns, and that includes my mom. I can't take this lying down. I have to do something." Harry whispered before he too, turned around, and headed towards the common rooms.

That night, at half-past eleven, Ron snuck up and placed their dressing-gowns on—Harry, who was wearing a pair of dark blue pants, a blue t-shirt and a blue jacket, didn't bother to change—before picking up their wands, and tiptoeing down to the common room.

They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them: "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."

Harry sighed as a lamp flickered on, revealing the speaker to them. It was Hermione granger, wearing a pink dressing-gown and a frown.

"_You_!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped. "Percy—he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

Harry couldn't believe it; no matter how hard he tried history seemed to just follow the same path.

"Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole.

Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose.

"Don't you _care_ about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, _I_ don't want Slytherin to win the house cup and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells—"

"You weren't the only one who knew the answers! Harry knew too!" Ron cut in.

"But—"

"Go away."

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so—"

Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a night-time visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.

"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go; we're going to be late."

They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them.

"I'm going with you," she said.

"You are _not_" 

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve—" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. "I heard something"

It was a sort of snuffling.

"Mrs Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.

It wasn't Mrs Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours. I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig Snout' but it won't help you now; the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."

"How's your arm?" asked Harry.

"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good—well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later—"

"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet. "I don't want to stay here alone; the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville.

"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learnt that Curse of the Bogie Quirrell told us about and used it on you."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Harry gave her a stern look that told her to shut up. The eleven year old first year closed her mouth, and didn't speak again for the rest of the trip.

After a few minutes, the four Gryffindors found themselves inside the Trophy room waiting for the Slytherins. The waited for quite a while, and when Harry noticed Hermione was shivering from the cold, he took his blue, warm jacket off and placed it upon her.

She was quite surprised at first when she realized she was suddenly feeling a bit warmer, but a simple smile from Harry told her what he had done.

"Thanks." She mouthed to him as he merely smiled back at her.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

Then a noice in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak—and it wasn't Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

It was Filch speaking to Mrs Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at the other three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently towards the door away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.

"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way." Harry mouthed to the other and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run—he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour.

The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" Harry cried and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following—they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, knowing exactly where he was leading them, but continued to anyways. They ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent down, wheezing and spluttering.

"I—_told—_you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest. "I—told—you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realise that, don't you?—"

"I knew all along." Harry whispered to her, and Hermione stopped talking.

"Let's go." Harry muttered as he began walking.

But the trip back to Gryffindor wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.

It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves—please—you'll get us thrown out."

Peeves cackled.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out—"

Harry held Ron back quickly, and looked up at Peeves.

"I thought you hated Filch. If you told him we were out, you'd be helping him." Harry said as Peeves frowned.

"How about this, we run into that classroom up there—" Harry said as he pointed towards the entrance to the Philosopher's stone.

"Perfect!" Peeves grinned evilly, and Harry nodded his head.

"Okay then, shout anytime you want, we're gonna start running though." Harry said as he began heading for the door.

He was merely a few feet from the door when he heard Peeve's yelling.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUPIDS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

"The door's locked! We're done for! This is the end!" Ron moaned as they pushed helplessly at the door.

They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could towards Peeves' shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock and whispered, "_Alohomora__!_" at the exact same time Harry did.

The lock clicked and the door swung open—they piled through it, shut it quickly and pressed their ears against it, listening, not bothering to look at the contents.

"Where way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."

"Say 'please'."

"Don't mess me about, Peeves, now _where did they go_?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying sing-song voice.

"All right—_please_."

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha!" Haaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

"He thinks this door is lock," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be OK—get off, Neville!" For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's t-shirt for the last minute. "_What?_"

Harry turned around, and suddenly remembered his situation. In front of him, Fluffy, the three headed dog sat staring at them with saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

He reached for the doorknob and opened it, causing the four students to fall backwards. Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran, back down the corridor. 

And they didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their flushed, sweaty faces.

"Never mind that—pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common-room and collapsed, trembling into armchairs.

It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed looked like he'd never speak again.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

Hermione had got both her breath, and her bad temper back again.

"You don't have eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

"No, _not_ the floor. It was standing on a trap door. It's obviously guarding something."

She stood up, glaring at them.

 "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed—or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Ron stared at her, his mouth open.

"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

But Harry was no longer listening to him, he was watching Hermione walk away, and as she did, Harry noticed a warm feeling within him. _So, this is what love truly is._

_*****_

Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by next morning Harry and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure and they were quite keen to have another one. In the meantime, Harry filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection—although Harry already knew.

"It's either really valuable or really dangerous." Said Ron.

"Or both," said Harry.

Their conversation continued that way as the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harry just smiled, knowing that it was his Nimbus 2000. When the parcel was dropped upon him, everyone looked at him in surprise. A letter was also there, although Harry knew what it was, he ripped it open and read it anyways.

Harry barely looked through it before crumbling it into a ball, and stuffing it into his robes.

"Come on." Harry said to Ron as he got up to leave the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first lesson, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy attempted to seize the package from Harry with a lot of difficulty, but in the end failed.

"That's a broomstick," he said as he gave Harry a look of jealousy and spite. "You'll be for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allow them."

"It's not any old broomstick," he said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned at Harry. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."

Before Ron could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow.

"Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he squeaked.

"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly.

"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances , Potter. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir," said Harry as he smiled at Malfoy. "And it's really thanks to Draco here that I've got it. Thanks a lot."

Harry and Ron headed upstairs smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.

"Well, it's true," Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase. "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team..."

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry.

"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."

Hermione marched away with her nose in the air.

For the rest of the day, Harry had trouble keeping his mind on his lessons. When the last period of the day was over, he and Ron bolted up the stairs without even making a trip to the Great Hall to get their dinner.

"Wow," Ron sighed, as the broomstick rolled on to Harry's bedspread.

'_I missed flying with this broom_.' Harry thought to himself as he picked it up.

"Let's go try it out now!" Ron said as Harry nodded.

"Hang on—I asked Neville if I could borrow his Remembrall, don't ask me why, you'll see when we get to the Quidditch field." Harry said as he walked over to Neville's bed stand and picked the Remembrall up.

Harry and Ron ran the whole way to the Quidditch Pitch, and Harry barely had time to apologize to Hermione as he and Ron smashed into her on their way. When they arrived there, all Harry could do was smile.

He hadn't placed any quidditch since Umbridge had placed that lifelong ban on him, and he was quite eager to fly. Before Ron could say anything, Harry had already kicked off the ground, and was zooming around the field.

When he was around fifty feet above the ground, Harry reached into his robes, and pulled the Remembrall out, before throwing it towards the sky. He watched as the small ball slowly fell, and waited a few seconds before speeding after it. He had caught it around five feet from the ground, but pulled out of the dive easily.

For the next hour or so, Harry and Ron both flew around the broom, enjoying themselves. They didn't even notice when Wood appeared to watch Harry's diving.

"Hey, Potter, come down!" Wood had finally decided to cut in on Harry's 'warm-up'.

Harry dove towards the ground, and pulled up just before he crashed, and jumped off his broom to run towards the Gryffindor team captain.

"I see what McGonagall meant... you really are a natural." Wood said with a grin.

"It's in my blood, I know everything I should know about Quidditch. All the rules, all the moves. Everything. I just haven't flew for a while, otherwise I'd be doing a bit better." Harry said as Wood frowned at him.

"How do you—"

"Books." Harry lied as Wood nodded his head.

"But—"

"My dad taught me when I was only a baby—I still remember." Harry lied as Wood nodded again.

"Well… since you know so much about Quidditch, we might as well begin—"

"Wood, do you think we can use an actual snitch? I'm sure I can catch it." Harry said as wood frowned.

"But it's getting dark and—"

"Lumos Activito!" Harry shouted as he swished his wand towards the stadium.

Suddenly, bright light appeared from all around them, and every part of the stadium was visible.

"Well, guess you solved that problem—"

"Is it possible?" Harry asked as Wood nodded.

"Should I let one of the Bludgers out? Or do you not—"

"Sure, let both of them out." Harry said as Wood frowned.

"Potter—you'd better not be kidding around with me—"

"I'm not Oliver. I'm not." Harry cut in as Oliver Wood nodded.

"Fine. Get up there. I'll release both the bludgers and the snitch, after three minutes you can attempt to find it, I'll time you." Wood said as he opened the trunk that he had with him, and let the two black bludgers fly off.

"Get up there." He commanded as he let the snitch out.

Harry zoomed up towards the air, and dodged the bludgers that came flying at him, after three minutes, Wood signalled him, and Harry began to search for the snitch.

He saw it within the next minute, and zoomed off towards it quickly, within seconds, he had the snitch in his hands, Ron cheering like crazy, and Wood staring at him in awe.

"Let the snitch go Potter, I think that was just a fluke. Get down here and talk to Weasley for a while before you start searching again." Wood said as Harry flew down to Ron.

*****

Perhaps it was because he was so busy now, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realised that he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. 

His homework, was still as easy as ever, since he had already learned everything. Percy had begun following him around, and Harry had to watch out for him, to make sure that he wouldn't do anything stupid.

On Hallowe'en morning they woke up to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something that they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom all around the classroom. 

Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan, and Ron was with Hermione. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. She hadn't spoken to either of them since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived, and personally, Harry was going through hell because of the cold shoulder.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too—never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

The spell was quite simple for Harry, for he got it on his first try easily. Professor Flitwick hadn't noticed, but Harry didn't really care. Seamus was having a hard time, and Harry helped him patiently, and didn't even freak out when Seamus set fire to his feather.

Ron, on the other hand, was having a _very_ hard time.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Harry heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-_gar_-dium Levi-_o­_-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said, "_Wingardium Leviosa!"_

_Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads._

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping." Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

"That's nothing, if you look up the at the ceiling, you'd see that Harry's feather's been there for a while." Seamus said as everyone's head looked up. Indeed, Harry's feather was up there.

"Oops, didn't notice that. Sorry professor." Harry said as he slowly brought the feather down to the height of Hermione's feather.

"Ten points to Gryffindor, for Mr Potter and Miss Granger."

Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of the class.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor. "She's a nightmare, honestly—"

"No she's not Ron!" Harry snapped, but he felt someone knock into him as they hurried past him. It was Hermione.

"Damn it—she heard you!" Harry said angrily as Ron frowned.

"So? She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"Then what am I Ron? A dummy?" Harry asked as he shook his head and sighed.

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great hall for the Hallowe'en feast, Harry and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' toilets and wanted to be left alone.

Ron looked pretty awkward, and the angry expression on Harry's face didn't help at all. But the moment they had entered the Great Hall, the Hallowe'en decorations caused Hermione to disappear from his mind.

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceilings while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkin stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start of term banquet.

Harry was in no mood to eat, and waited impatiently for the explosions Professor Quirrell was about to cause. And he was right, a few seconds later, the defence against the dark arts teacher came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped again the table and gasped, "Troll—in the dungeons—thought you ought to know."

He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Percy was in his element.

"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"Hermione!" Harry said as he grabbed Ron's arm.

"What about her?" Ron asked as Harry began to pull him in the other direction.

"She doesn't know about the troll."

Ron bit his lip.

"Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."

Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor and hurried off towards the girls' toilets. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.

"Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin.

Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He cross the corridor and disappeared from view.

"Can you smell something?" Harry asked as he heard a low grunting and the shuffling footfall of gigantic feet. Ron point: at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. 

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

"The key's in the lock," Ron muttered. "We could lock it in."

"Bad idea, that's the girl's bathroom!" Harry said as he ran forward, ignoring Ron's shouts. A high, petrified scream was heard just as Harry ran into the room.

Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Damn!" Harry shouted as he ran forward and slid through the troll's legs, stopped right in front of Hermione, and got up to stand in front of her.

"Impedimental!" Harry yelled as he pulled his wand out and pointed it at the troll.

It did no use.

"Bull!" Harry said angrily.

"Accio sink!" Harry shouted as he pointed at a nearby broken sink, which came flying towards him, Harry moved his wand at the last second, causing the sink to smash into the troll's head.

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout towards Ron instead, giving Harry time to throw a few more spells at it.

"Stupefy! Furnunculus! Densaugeo! Diffindo! Reducto!" Harry listed off, remembering the spell he had used against Malfoy during their duel.

A few of the spells shot off towards the troll's eyes, and temporarily blinded him, causing the troll to scream and groan in pain. It began to swing its bat around, trying to hurt its attacker.

"Look out Hermione!" Harry shouted as he grabbed the eleven year old and pulled her away from danger.

"Ron—do something!" Harry yelled as he realized he and Hermione were both cornered.

There wasn't anything Harry could do anymore, and he realized that Ron was the one who was supposed to finish the troll off.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!" _Ron shouted as the club flew suddenly out of the troll's head, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over—and dropped, with a sickening crack, on to its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

"Is it—dead?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think so," said Harry. "I think it's just knocked out—Hermione are you alright?"

Harry's attention was now completely on Hermione Granger, as if his life depended on the fact that she was perfectly fine.

"I think." Hermione replied as Harry gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank God." Harry whispered as he heard a suddenly slamming and loud footsteps approach them.

 Harry separated himself from Hermione, and took a few steps towards the door, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape; with Quirrell bring up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his head.

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had never seen her so angry. Her lips were white.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down.

Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall—they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.

"I went looking for the troll because I—I thought I could deal with it on my own—you know, because I've read all about them."

Ron dropped his wand in shock. Hermione was telling a lie to a teacher?

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry used a few spells to blind to temporarily, and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

Ron was trying hard to looked as though this story wasn't new to them, but Harry's expression was unreadable.

"Well—in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head in false disgrace.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses."

Hermione nodded, before leaving; and Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.

"We should have got more than ten points," Ron grumbled.

"Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's." 

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if you hadn't insulted her in the first place." Harry reminded him.

They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pig snout," they said and entered.

The common-room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them.  There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks", and hurried off to get plates.

But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

*****

As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves and enormous beaver skin boots.

The Quidditch season had begun. On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.

Hardly anyone had seen Harry play because Wood had decided that, as their secret weapon, Harry should be kept, well, secret. But the news that he was playing seeker leaked out somehow, and Harry always groaned when people approached him, no matter what they had said.

Harry had spent the last few weeks doing most of his homework with Ron and Hermione. Hermione obviously had everything done ahead of time—practically like him, and they would always compare homework to see whose was better. Ron on the other hand, never did his homework until the last minute, and always waited until Harry and Hermione bullied him into it.

The day before Harry's first Quidditch match the three of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and Hermione had conjured them up a bright blue fire which could be carried around in a jam jar they were standing with their backs to it, getting warm, when Snape crossed the yard. Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved closer together to block the fire from view; they were sure it wouldn't be allowed.

Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape's eye. He limped over. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off anyway.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?" he asked as Harry showed him a book.

"_Quidditch through the Ages_. By the way Professor, I've been meaning to ask you about something. Flamel's rock—you know?" Harry asked as Snape's expression darkened.

"How did you know about that?" he asked.

"I can see into the future." Harry said with a grin as Snape frowned.

"I'll see you around Potter." Snape muttered before he turned to leave.

"What was that about?" Ron asked after the Potions master left.

"Nothing. Let's just say I saw something in the future—and it's not pretty." Harry said darkly with a sigh.

"Harry—are you a seer?" Hermione asked as Harry looked over at her beautiful face.

"No... At least... I don't think so." Harry smiled slightly before he sighed, and went back to reading _Quidditch through the Ages_.

*****

The next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

"You've got to eat some breakfast."

"I don't want anything."

"Just a bit of toast," wheedled Hermione.

"Fine." Harry said as he stuff a piece of bread into his mouth.

"Oh, so you listen to her and not me eh?" Ron asked as Harry ignored him and chew away at the piece of toast.

At eleven o'clock, the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Before Hermione had a chance to join Neville and Ron, Harry pulled her aside to talk to her.

"'Mione, no matter what happens out there today on the field—don't attack Snape. Don't approach him, don't do anything. Just understand that I'll be able to handle it." Harry said as Hermione frowned at him.

"Why? And when did you start calling me by this new nickname 'Mione?" Hermione asked as Harry rolled his eyes.

"Who's supposed to be asking the questions? Just promise me you won't do anything." Harry said as Hermione sighed and nodded her head, before running off.

Harry headed towards the changing rooms, and changed into his scarlet Quidditch robes; before waiting for Wood's speech.

"OK, men," he said.

"And women," said Chaser Angelina Johnson.

"And women," Wood agreed. "This is it."

"The big one," said Fred Weasley.

"The one we've all been waiting for," said George.

"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred told Harry. "We were on the team last year."

"Shut up, you two," said Wood. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it."

He glared at them as if to say, "Or else."

"Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

Harry followed Fred and George out of the changing room and, hoping his knees weren't going to give way from excitement, walked on to the pitch to loud cheers.

Madam Hooch was refereeing. She stood in the middle of the pitch waiting for the two teams, her broom in her hand.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said as Harry reached into his robe pocket to make sure his wand was still there.

Good. It was.

"Mount your brooms, please."

Harry clambered on to his Nimbus Two Thousand.

Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle.

Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor—what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too—"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor."

The Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall.

"And she's really belting along up there, a near pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve—back to Johnson and—no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes—Flint flying like an eagle up there—he's going to sc—no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and Gryffindor take the Quaffle—there's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and—OUCH—that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger—Quaffle taken by Slytherin—that's Adrian Pucey speeding off towards the goal post, but he's blocked by a second Bludger—sent his way by Red or George Weasley, can't tell which—nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyways, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead an off she goes—she's really flying—dodges a speeding Bludger—the goal posts are ahead—come on, now, Angelina—Keeper Bletchley dives—misses—GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.

"Budge up there, move along."

"Hagrid!"

Ron and Hermione squeezed together to give Hagrid enough space to join them.

"Bin watchin from me hut," said Hagrid, putting a large pair of binoculars round his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," said Ron. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet."

"Keep outta trouble, though, that's something," said Hagrid, raising his binoculars and peering skywards at the speck that was Harry.

Way up above them, Harry was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the snitch. 

"Keep out of the way until you catch sight of the Snitch," Wood had said. "We don't want you attacked before you have to be."

When Angelina had scored, Harry had done a couple of loop-the-loops to let off his feelings. Now he was back to staring around for the Snitch. Once he caught sight of a flash of gold but it was just a reflection from one of the Weasleys' wristwatches, and once a Bludger decided to come pelting his way, more like a cannon ball than anything, but Harry dodged it and Fred Weasley came chasing after it.

"All right there, Harry?" he had time to yell, as he beat the bludger furiously towards Marcus Flint.

"Slytherins in possession," Lee Jordan was saying. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasley and Chaser Bell and speeds towards the—wait a moment—was that the Snitch?"

A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

Harry saw it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downwards after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it too. Neck and neck they hurtled towards the Snitch—all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch.

Harry was faster than Higgs—he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead—he put on an extra spurt of speed—

WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below—Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose and Harry's broom span off course, Harry holding on for dear life.

"Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.

Down in the stands, Dean Thomas was yelling, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"

"This isn't football, Dean," Ron reminded him. "You can't send people off in Quidditch—wand what's a red card?"

But Hagrid was on Dean's side.

"They oughta change the rules, Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air."

Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides.

"So—after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating—"

"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul—"

"_Jordan, I'm warning you—"_

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindors still in possession."

It was as Harry dodged another Bludger which went spinning dangerously past his head that it happened. His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that.

It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. Harry tried to turn back towards the Gryffindor goal posts; he had half a mind to ask Wood to call time out—and then he realized that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zig-zagging through the air and every now and then making violent swishing movements which almost unseated him.

Lee was still commentating.

"Anyways—Slytherin in possession—Flint with the Quaffle—passes to Spinnet—passes Bell—hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it breaks his nose—only joking, Professor—Slytherin score—oh no..."

The Slytherins were now cheering, no one seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went.

"Dunno what Harry think he's doing," Hagrid mumbled. He stared though his binoculars. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom... but he can't have..."

Suddenly, people were point up at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.

"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.

"Can't have," Hagrid said, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic—no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd.

"What are you doing?" moaned Ron, grey-faced.

"I knew it," Hermione gasped. "Snape—look."

Ron grabbed the binoculars. Snape was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering non-stop under his breath.

"He's doing something—jinxing the broom," said Hermione.

"What should we do?"

"_Nothing_! Harry made me promise I wouldn't do anything. He knew this was going to happen!" Hermione said as tears began to form in her eyes.

"What if he dies?" Hermione whispered, and not even seconds after she had said those words, Harry fell from his broom.

Screaming could be heard from the crowds, and Hermione gasped, Harry was over a hundred feet up in the air—a fall like that could kill him. But then—suddenly—something happened.

Hermione grabbed Hagrid's binoculars and watched as Harry pulled his wand out, and summoned his broomstick to him. He had quickly taken control over it around twenty feet above the ground, and pulled himself out of a dangerous fall as cheering could be heard from the crowd.

Then something weird happened—Harry clapped his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick—he sped towards the ground and landed on all fours—coughing like crazy—and something gold fell into his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

"He didn't _catch_ it, he nearly _swallowed_ it!" Flint was still howling twenty minutes later, but it made no difference—Harry hadn't broken any rules and Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the result—Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty. Harry heard none of this, though. He was being made a cup of strong tea back in Hagrid's hut, with Ron and Hermione.

"It was Snape," Ron was explaining. "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing you broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid, who hadn't heard a word of what had gone on next to him in the stand. "Why would Snape do something like that?"

'_Exactly—and he wasn't muttering a curse—he was muttering a counter curse_.' Harry thought as he looked over at Hermione, who was sitting next to him. She still had some tears in her eyes and Harry felt his heart tug at him.

"Come on Hermione—I'm okay. I'm not dead!" Harry said, but this only caused Hermione to cry harder.

"For Merlin's sake Hermione, calm down." Harry muttered as he placed his arm around Hermione and gave her a hug.

"It's ok. Stop crying will you? You'll going to look like an idiot with puffy eyes." Harry joked as Hermione stopped crying and frowned at him.

_'A beautiful idiot.' _Harry thought to himself as he patted her on the head.

"There we go, finally." Harry said as Ron laughed and Hermione blushed with embarrassment.

"You think it has anything to do with that three headed dog Harry?" Ron asked suddenly.

"What do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked as he dropped the teapot.

"Fluffy?"

"Yeah—he's mind—bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year—I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the—"

"Yes?" Hermione and Ron both said eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me any more," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Hagrid, Snape's trying to  _steal_ it."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again.

"Exactly," Harry cut in, "if you're going to accuse anyone, accuse Quirrell—"

"Don't accuse either of them! Quirrell and Snape are both Hogwarts teachers, they'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" cried Hermione as she burst into tears again.

"Oh not again." Harry groaned as he placed his arm around her, and placed her head onto his shoulder.

"Stop crying will you? I know for a fact it's not Snape—don't ask me how I know—I just do!" Harry said as he gave Hermione a look.

"But I know a jinx when I see one, Harry, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blink at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong! Yer shoul' all listen to Harry here." Said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh—yer meddlin' in things that don' conern yeh—"

"It concerns me when Voldemort's the one who's out to get me again." Harry muttered under his breathe, but only Hermione heard.

"—You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel—"

"Aha!" said Ron. "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself, and kicked them all out of his hut before he told them anything else he would regret.

Harry mere smiled at his reactions, but didn't really care. He already knew the situation. Inside and out. And personally, he didn't care.

*****

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver post had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly again.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common-room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the draughty corridors had become icy and bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worse of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

Harry had invited the Weasley twins and Ron to number four Privet Drive, after sending Hedwig to Dudley with a letter asking before doing so. The Dursley had accepted, although they were in a way scared. Dudley was absolutely okay with it, and he missed his cousin quite a lot.

The three Weasleys were happy to accept the invitation, after sending a letter to their parents to inform them where they were going. Harry had no idea where the Weasleys were going to stay, but he was sure it was going to be his room. 

The eleven year old Harry Potter longed to get into another 'fight' with his cousin Dudley, it seemed like he had weakened over the first few months of school, and needed to begin practicing his karate moves in Hogwarts again.

A few days before Christmas, Harry had made a trip to Professor Dumbledore, with a simple question...

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry said as he knocked on the door slowly.

"Come in." the headmaster's voice said as Harry opened the door, and stepped inside the office.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, of what pleasure do I owe due to your visit?" Dumbledore asked as he signaled Harry to sit down.

"Well Professor—you know how the Weasleys are staying at my house—well, I was just wondering, are we allowed to use magic during the winter holidays at home?" Harry questioned.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well, I'll have to expand my room and summon some more beds for the Weasleys and—"

"Harry that is very advanced magic— you're not supposed to learn that until you're in your fifth or sixth year. How would you be able to do that?" Dumbledore cut in as Harry paused.

"Um... I..."

"And there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about—even Mr. Percy Weasley approached me about the situation. Some of the spells you used during that duel with Mr. Malfoy a few weeks back—how did you know about them?" the headmaster questioned as Harry gulped.

He knew he shouldn't have used such advanced magic. Now he seemed suspicious.

"I um... I..."

"And according to Oliver Wood, you knew all the rules of Quidditch already. Something about you remembering the lessons you father taught you when you were young? Harry, I know you're lying. James never taught you how to fly at such a young age. Lily wouldn't allow it." Dumbledore said as Harry frowned.

"I—I don't know how to explain this... you'll probably kick me out of Hogwarts if I tell you. Or give me this major lecture about time travel and—"

"Time travel?" Dumbledore cut in as Harry mentally yelled at himself for letting that slip.

"Well... you see... I'm not exactly from this time." Harry began, and he suddenly noticed that Dumbledore looked like he had just aged ten years older.

"Continue." The headmaster whispered as Harry sighed.

"Well—I'm supposed to be going into my sixth year—but... death eaters attacked on my birthday and—"

"Death Eater?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well... yes... you see... Voldemort comes back in my fourth ye—"

"Harry, you must keep this information to yourself." Dumbledore stated in a seriously whisper.

"I know—right now, other then me, only you know." Harry muttered.

"Harry, I must know—in your time. Did you go back to the Dursleys for Christmas? Or Easter Break? At all?" Dumbledore asked as Harry shook his head.

"We must keep it that way. We can't change anything. It can cause the future to change immensely." Dumbledore noted as Harry sighed.

"But—Dudley and I are friends now—I know, I shouldn't have done that—but—there are _some_ things that I know I _have_ to change. I won't let Voldemort come back to power until he's supposed to—but in the meantime, can't I make sure that my life outside of Hogwarts isn't crazy?" Harry asked.

"Is that why you were so prepared? During that Quidditch match? When you were knocked off your broom?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes. I know who was trying to kill me. I won't tell you who, but it wasn't Snape. I know that for sure. It's someone else—someone who's working for Voldemort—I know about the Philosopher's Stone, Professor Dumbledore." Harry said as the headmaster closed his eyes and frowned.

"Harry, you must understand that even the slightest thing can cause everything to go wrong." The old wizards whispered gravely.

"But—"

"No buts, you and the Weasleys will stay here this winter. I will write an owl to your aunt and uncle to tell them that you're getting some extra help in... potions class this holiday and—"

"Of all the courses, why potions? Can't it be transfiguration?" Harry asked in shock.

"Don't worry, I do not plan on making you work this winter Harry. You will be able to enjoy your winter as you please. But you must understand, it is merely an excuse." Dumbledore explained.

"I understand."

"Good, now, if I'm not mistaken, Hagrid is currently lecturing Ron and Hermione about keeping their nose out of the Philosopher's Stone business. You should probably get down to the library to help them." Dumbledore said as Harry nodded slightly.

"I'll see you around Professor." Harry mumbled, before he turned around, and walked out of the office.

*****

**A/N: **_Hope you liked this chapter... replies to your comments are below, and please review! Thanks!_

_*****_

**swordmaster**** mage-**I presume this chapter answered all of your questions.

**Draken**** Smythe**-It's all out of the book, I'm practically re-typing it, adding in a few things, and taking out a few things.

**Jade**-Psh, like he can do anything unless he had proof. Now that Dumbledore knows the situation, Harry will most likely be able to get away with any minor slip ups.

**Pablo5280**-Don't worry, I plan on doing so****

**Acorn on the cob**-What can I say? He noticed it alright...

**TatraMegami**-I've been thinking about that lately... so far, the only people who will find out about this will be Harry and Dumbledore... in the first year anyways... I'm thinking of letting Hermione find out during the third year—oh yea, the third year... it'll be completely DIFFERENT! A little hint... Harry won't go on the Knight Bus... he'll spend the rest of his summer with his god-father... anyways... back to Percy being a main character—I would make him a main character—but if he knew that Harry was reliving the first five years of his life at Hogwarts, he would probably make sure that Harry didn't participate in the twi-wizard cup, since he already knew everything...

**gallandro-83**-Harsh, but true words. I will be changing things around. Heck, I've even taken  your advice and got Harry to tell Dumbledore.

**Franky**-that scares me you know that? But thx for the review ^^ Don't worry, I will be continuing. I don't update daily, if I did, I'd be spending more time writing then I would be in school. It takes around 6 hours to write one chapter, not to mention going back and editing. I thank you for the compliment about having talent, but trust me, most of it came from reading tons of fanfic work from genius like MoonWolf, and Rubuski... I forgot how to spell the guy's pen name… T.T anyways... if I hadn't read half their work, I doubt I would've been able to pick up the 'talent'. 

Also, Thanks to: Zhan Black, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, kokaina, NeoSeeker, lost angel92, TopQuark, Lady Phoenix Slytherin, Spiffycool, Nightwing 509, Nicoletta

**P.S. REVIEW!!******


	4. In On The Secret

**Title: **Time Warp: Year One

**Author: **Laen

**Chapter: **(4) In on the Secret

**Summary: **Hermione goes back home for Christmas, and Harry feels he needs to be able to talk to someone about his situation... who's better to talk to then his own best friend Ron? He also makes a trip to Azkaban, and spends the night at the Dursleys.

**Disclaimer:** All characters below belong to Joanne K. Rowling; the idea of Harry going back in time came from Back to the Future.

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys like this chapter... and please, REVIEW!

_Here's the story:_

****

****

As Harry wondered by the restricted section of the library, Madam Pince the librarian walked by.

"What are you looking for, boy?" she asked as Harry froze in his steps, and quickly thought of an excuse.

"Are there any books in the library about my parents?" he asked at last.

"What?" The librarian was now speechless.

"My parents—are there any books about them? I heard from Hermione there's loads of books about me—what about my parents?"

"Why are you looking for books about your parents?" Madam Pince asked curiously.

"It's nearly Christmas—and... well, Christmas is a time of family—but the only family I have are the Dursleys—and I can't go back for the break and well..." Harry never had to finish his sentence, he got his point to the librarian loud and clear.

"Of course—there are a few. Sit down over there and I'll bring them to you in a bit." She said kindly, as if scared Harry would burst into tears thinking about his dead parents.

Harry did as he was told, and a few minutes later, Madam Pince arrived at the table with over half a dozen of books.

"That's all we've got in the library. Have fun reading." She said before she turned around and left.

Harry looked through the title of the books, and one in particular caught his eye.

_'101 Steps to becoming an Animagus'_by James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Wow... my dad published a book?" he whispered in shock as he flipped through the book. The book was over two hundred pages long, and even had a category of different animals or magical creatures one could become.

"What's that?" a voice asked behind him, and Harry turned around to see Ron and Hermione standing there.

"A book my dad wrote with his best friend, Sirius Black." Harry said as he showed them the cover.

The color on Ron and Hermione's face immediately paled, and Harry swore silently inside his head for being so stupid.

"Harry—you do know who Sirius Black is?" Hermione asked in barely a whisper.

"Yea. My dad's best friend and my god-father."

"No Harry—I mean—" Before Hermione had a chance to explain, Ron cut in.

"Sirius Black is your god-father?" he shouted in shock.

Heads all around the library turned to see the commotion, and many sixth and seventh year students paled at the name Sirius Black.

"Thanks Ron, tell all of Hogwarts will ya." Harry said sarcastically as he went back to reading the book.

"Harry—Sirius Black was your parent's Secret Keeper!" Hermione muttered as Harry sighed and placed the book onto the table.

"No he wasn't. Everyone thought he was. But he wasn't."

Silence lingered in the air as Harry shut his eyes, and a look of pain appeared onto his face.

"I wish I could get him out of there—out of Azkaban... but Dumbledore—he won't even listen to me—damn him." Harry mumbled as Hermione gasped.

"Harry! How can you talk about Dumbledore like that?" she asked as Harry groaned.

"I'm going back to the common room, good luck trying to find Flamel." Harry said as he picked up the books Madam Pince gave him, and headed over to the front counter to take them all out.

"You want to borrow _all_ off these books?" The librarian asked in shock as Harry nodded.

"Christmas reading." He smiled sadly as Madam Pince nodded, and checked them all out for him.

After placing a shrinking charm on the books, and stuffing them into his bag, Harry left the library. A few minutes later, he was shocked to find himself standing at the entrance to the Room of Requirements.

"What the—" he mumbled, but began to walk back and forth the corridor, until the door appeared.

Harry entered it, and gasped at the sight inside.

The room was huge, in one corner, was a king sized bed, and in another corner, was a bookshelf.

Closing the door behind him, Harry placed his bag onto the ground, and walked towards the bookshelf. When he read through the cover titles of the books on the shelf, a large grin appeared onto his face.

They were all about his parents—and his background.

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

"What do you think is wrong with Harry?" Ron asked as he watched his best friend leave the library at a rather quick pace.

"I don't know—he's been quite silent towards us lately. Have you noticed how he knows everything about our lessons before hand—and always seems to get his homework done weeks ahead of time?" Hermione question as Ron snorted.

"Hermione, why do you always analyze things?"

"I just do, it's the way I do things." Hermione replied in confusion, not knowing why Ron asked her that.

"Same with Harry, it's his way of living. Don't question it. By the way—I've been meaning to ask you this for ages—do you like Harry?"

Hermione, for the first time in her life, was speechless.

"Well?" Ron asked as Hermione shook out of her thoughts.

"Why do you want to know?" she answered his question with a question of her own.

"Cause if I'm not right, Harry kissed you the night we saved you from the troll." Ron said with a sly grin on his face.

"That was a _friendly_ kiss Ron! And it was on my forehead! If you weren't so blind, you would've noticed!" Hermione stated as Ron's grin widened.

"Friendly indeed. Remind me to ask him about it later on." Ron muttered as he ducked and ran for his life.

Hermione was now throwing books at him.

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

Harry yawned as he fell back onto the bed in the Room of Requirements. He had spent the last few hours reading, and it was nearly dinner time.

"I wonder if all this stuff will still be here when I come back." He mumbled as he looked around at his surroundings.

As he headed towards the door, he picked up his bag, and stuffed a few more books about his parents into it.

In the last few hours, Harry had learned that his parents had not only left him the galleons in the Gringotts Wizarding bank, but a house and a number of other things.

Not only that, Harry was now beginning to learn how to become an animagus. Within the book his dad and Sirius had written, were more then just instructions and information. There was even a little handwritten note the two Marauders left in there for the reader at the front.

_To Whom It May Concern:_

_We can only hope that you achieve your goal of becoming an animagus, you must understand, that not every witch or wizard has the ability of changing into an anime. And if you do, indeed, have the gift, you should be proud of yourself. Without further ado, we present to you, 101 Steps to becoming an Animagus. _

_Prongs and Moony_

A smile appeared onto Harry's face when he read it; he knew he would achieve his goal soon, if he had spent enough time on it. Although he was only eleven years old on the outside, he was sixteen years old on the inside.

Old enough to start learning about breaking laws that can land you in Azkaban.

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

Once the holidays had started, Harry spent nearly all of his time in the room of requirements, and Ron was getting quite suspicious about where he was going.

He had owled Remus Lupin earlier on, stating that he wished to make a trip down the Azkaban on Christmas, and asked if he could accompany him. The werewolf agreed immediately, and made arrangements with Dumbledore.

The headmaster agreed, after Harry begged him into letting him leave.

It was during the afternoon the day before Christmas, when Harry heard the door to the Room of Requirements open, and someone stepping in.

"Who's there?" he said as he twirled around and pointed his wand at the intruder.

It was Ron.

"Watch where you point that thing Harry." Ron muttered as he closed the door and looked around.

"What is this place?" he asked as Harry lowered his wand slowly.

"How'd you know where I was?"

"Why didn't you ever tell me about this?"

"Did you follow me?"

"No, Fred and George told me where you were. I've no idea how they found out though."

'_The Marauder's map!'_ Harry thought to himself as he nodded slightly.

"So, what is this place?" Ron repeated as he looked through the pile of books Harry was reading.

"The Room of Requirements." Harry explained as Ron sat down at the table across from him.

"Whacha reading?" Ron asked as Harry showed him the book.

_'Occlumency and Legilimency' _by: Lily Potter

"Weren't you reading '101_ Steps to becoming an Animagus'_ a while back?" Ron asked as Harry nodded.

"Read about one fourth of the book, but decided to put it aside, if I'm planning to become animagus, I should probably wait until Hermione comes back from Christmas holidays, it'd probably be safer, and she's probably read something about this in the library somewhere." Harry said as Ron nodded.

"You want to become animagus?" Ron asked as Harry nodded.

"Care to join me on the road to success?" Harry joked as the red head laughed slightly.

"Sure, why not—wow! Marauder's Prank Book, First Edition! Fred and George have told me loads about the Marauders! They're famous pranksters!" Ron said as he picked up one of the books Harry borrowed from the library.

"Remind me to see Dumbledore and Madam Pince about that book later, I'm going to see if I can buy it from the school—my dad was a Marauder you know." Harry said as Ron's jaw fell.

"You're not joking!"

"Nope." Harry grinned; he managed to take Ron's mind off asking any questions for a few hours, for the red head flipped through the book reading about the number of pranks the Marauders pulled at Hogwarts.

_Finally, a few hours before dinner..._

"Harry—I've been meaning to ask you—do you like Hermione?"

Harry fell out of his chair from shock.

"What?" he asked as he looked up at his friend.

"Do you like Hermione?" Ron repeated as Harry got to his feet slowly.

"Um... as a friend?" Harry made a poor attempt to lie, and Ron saw right through it was he sat down onto the chair again.

"I see—you kissed her that night you know—on the forehead—Hallowe'en. She said it was just a _friendly_ kiss, but I need to hear it from you to know for sure." Ron said with a grin on his face.

"Um... well... I..." Harry was beginning to turn red.

"I don't know really—I can't exactly tell you can I..."

"Why not? I'm your best friend!" Ron cut in angrily as Harry began to blabber.

"Not—that's not the reason—but you see—you wouldn't understands and—"

"And why do you believe that Sirius Black is good? Why did you insult Dumbledore that day in the library? Do you know that Percy's been asking loads of questions about you? He's suspicious of you Harry!"

"I know that!" Harry said in annoyance.

"Care to explain to me why Percy's suddenly taken such an interest in you?" Ron asked as Harry sighed slightly.

"I can't—"

"There's a difference between can't and won't." Ron muttered as Harry sighed again.

"I—I—Dumbledore'll kill me if I tell you." Harry mumbled under his breath as he shut his eyes and sighed again.

"What? Why? Why can't you tell me?" Ron asked as Harry snapped his finger.

A house elf suddenly appeared into the room.

"Excuse me—do you think you can get me a couple bottles of butterbeer?" he asked as he handed the elf some Wizarding coins.

"Of course sir, Colly is most willing to sir. How much would you like sir?" Colly asked as Ron stared at him in shock.

"As much as those can buy." Harry said as he made a jester to the coins.

"But sir, Hogwarts has a special storage for students; it's supposed to be free. We house elves don't accept money from students sir." Colly said as he placed the coins back onto the table and took a few steps away from Harry and Ron.

"Where is you to be wanting the drink sir?" Colly asked.

"On the table over there would be okay." Harry said as he pointed towards an empty corner.

"What are you talking about Harry, there's no table—"

Before Ron could even finish his sentence, a table appeared in the corner. Colly snapped his finger, and around what seemed like a dozen bottles of butterbeer appeared upon it.

"Thanks Colly." Harry said as the house elf bowed, then disappeared.

"Wow—how'd you do that?" Ron asked.

"I was getting a bit hungry a while back, and was wondering if it was possible to summon house elves and ask them for some food—it was after curfew and I wasn't in the mood to get myself caught and placed in detention by Filch." Harry explained as he walked over, grabbed a bottle of butterbeer, opened it, and took a gulp.

"So one of those house elves popped up?" Ron asked as Harry nodded.

"Want one?" he asked as the red head nodded, got up and grabbed one for himself.

"Not bad." Ron muttered as he continued to drink the delicious drink.

"Anyways—like I was saying—why can't you tell me what's going on? How did you find this place? Why is Percy so suspicious of you?" Ron continued to question as Harry sighed.

"I—I—I'll tell you—under one circumstance..."

"Whatever it is, I agree!" Ron said hastily.

"You won't try to change anything—and you won't tell anyone about this."

"That's two!" Ron pointed out, but Harry avoided him.

"Agree or not?"

"Fine!" Ron said as he rolled his eyes slightly.

"Okay—I'm from the future." Harry said at last.

"What?" Ron had a shocked, yet confused expression on his face now.

"I'm from the future." Harry repeated.

"You're joking right?"

"No."

"Oh."

That was the last thing Ron said before he fell back in a dead faint.

"I doubt that was a good idea." Harry mumbled as a bed appeared in another corner, and Harry helped lift his friend over to it.

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

"Ron! Ron! Wake up!" Harry said as he made another attempt to wake his friend up, but the red head continued to snore.

Ron had woken up earlier shortly after dinner started, but fell asleep seconds afterwards, before Harry even had a chance to explain anything.

The 'eleven' year old boy was forced to ask Colly to bring some dinner up to the room of requirements when he realized he couldn't just leave Ron there by himself in the room, since he didn't know if the room would change or something.

"Wake up or I'll eat all the food!" Harry shouted as Ron suddenly sprung alive.

"No! Not the food! I'm a growing boy!" Ron said as he got up from the bed and ran over to the table piled with food.

"Wow—those house elves are great cooks." Ron mumbled as he took a bite of the chicken wing he held in his hand.

"Hey Ron... do ya remember what we were talking about before you fainted?"

"Yea, you said you were from the future. You're joking right?"

"Nope." Harry said with a sigh as he sat down onto the seat across from Ron and helped himself to some dinner.

"I see... is this why you know everything?"

Harry nodded.

"Oh... can you tutor me?"

"Sure, why not. I've got too much time on my hands anyways. Want to know about the future?" Harry asked as Ron nodded slightly.

"You seem so calm about this... how come?" Ron questioned as Harry shrugged.

"I went a bit mad after Dumbledore told me I wasn't allowed to go back to the Dursleys for Christmas... but after reading a few books my parents wrote, I guess it calmed me down. There were a lot of comments my dad and his friends scribbled in there." Harry explained as he took a sip of eggnog.

"So, what happens in the future? You don't have to tell me anything too... well, you don't have to tell me anything that can change the future too bad. Just a bit of detail. Like if I live past the first year of Potions class." Ron said as Harry laughed.

"You live past it. Don't worry. As a matter of fact, you become quite famous throughout the year. Hermione's also famous after a few years. The Daily Prophet was always talking about us." Harry grinned.

"Really? What did I do?" Ron questioned curiously.

"Hm... if I tell you, promise me you won't change what happens next year? Since it's supposed to happen anyways?" Harry asked as Ron nodded.

"We drove your dad's flying car into the Whomping Willow on our first day to school during our second year." Harry laughed as a look of shock appeared onto Ron's face.

"Dad actually managed to get that muggle piece of junk to fly?" he asked in disbelief as Harry nodded.

"As a matter of fact, you and the Weasley twins saved me from my aunt in uncle during the summer. I don't know if this summer's going to end up being too bad though. But knowing the future... um... well, you never know." Harry said as he rolled his eyes.

"This isn't a joke is it?"

"Do you still need to check? Fine um... don't tell Hermione this when she gets back, she's supposed to find out about it—Fluffy's guarding the Philosopher's Stone. It's a magical rock thingy that can turn things into gold and give you immortality. And no, Snape's not after it. If any, he's trying to protect it." Harry said as Ron's mouth fell open.

"You sure about this?"

"Wait a few months, Hermione will end up finding it in a book she took out for some 'light reading' sooner or later. Then we'll go gallivanting off to save the day again. Of course, Gryffindor'll end up losing the Quidditch cup this year due to the fact that I'm stuck in the hospital wing—oh yeah; start practicing your chess skills. You'll need them when we're down in the third corridor trying to get to the stone."

Ron seemed to be in shock.

"As Hermione would say, close your mouth or you'll catch flies." Harry mumbled as Ron closed his mouth immediately.

"Harry...?"

"Yeah?"

"Were we really good friends in the future?"

"The best. I always found a way to see you and Hermione during the summer. And you guys were there after I found out—after... after someone really close to us died." Harry ended the sentence with a whisper.

"Was it... accidental?"

"No. He was murdered. But I'll do everything in my power to prevent it from happening this time." Harry stated as he sighed.

"Well, talk about a mood spoiler. Let's finish eating, and then I'll start teaching you some new curses, spells, and hexes. We won't exactly have a really good defence against the dark arts teacher next year."

"What? But Quirrell isn't retiring!"

"Quirrell's evil. He works for Voldemort—"

At that moment, Ron flinched, and a look of fear appeared onto his face.

"Fear of the name, leads to fear of the person. If you can't say the name Voldemort, say Tom."

"Tom. Why Tom?"

"Because that's his real name. His muggle name anyways. He was a half blood."

"You're not kidding!"

"Nope, but anyways, let's finish eating."

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed thinking about how fortunate he was that he had the chance to relive his life. He knew for a fact tomorrow was going to be a long day, due to the fact he was planning a little visit for a friend...

When he woke up the next day, the first thing Harry saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.

"Happy Christmas," said Ron sleepily as Harry scrambled out of his bed and pulled on his dressing-gown.

"You too," said Harry as he opened the first present on top of the pile. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly-cut wooden flute. Harry blew it—it sounded a bit like an owl.

The second parcel was a box the size of a basketball. When Harry opened it, he saw an MP3 CD player inside it.

_To Harry,_

_ Got some letter from your headmaster saying you couldn't come back? It's too bad, but all the same, Happy Christmas, I got the box of sweets you went me. Those cards are wicked! And the flavoured beans are... interesting. Dad finally got rid of his tail, after we left you at King's Cross. Anyways, write back soon, and if possible, try to visit._

_ Love,_

_ Your Cousin,_

_ Dudley Dursley _

"Wow." Harry whispered as he looked at the MP3 CD player and the pile of CDs there.

"What's that?" Ron asked curiously.

"Muggle thing." Harry explained as Ron nodded.

Dudley hadn't only sent him the MP3 CD player, a few CDs, but also a package of re-chargeable batteries.

Harry grinned as he opened the next package.

It was an emerald green thick, hand-knitted Weasley jumper. And a large box of home-made fudge.

"And if you owl your mum anytime soon, thank her for me." Harry said as he pulled the sweater over himself.

His next present also contained sweets—a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione.

The last one left was the invisibility cloak.

"I've been waiting for a while to get this." Harry said happily as he opened the package.

"What is it?" Ron questioned as Harry finished unwrapping the present.

"An invisibility cloak, it belonged to my dad." Harry said as he pulled the cloak over himself and disappeared into nothingness.

Before anything could happen, the Weasley twins popped into the room.

"Merry Christmas! Hey Ron, where' Harry?"

Before Ron had a chance to answer, Harry pulled the cloak off himself, and made a face at the twins. The two red heads screamed in shock as they fell to the ground.

Ron and Harry burst out laughing, and didn't even notice when Percy stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving.

"What's all this noise?"

"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one." Fred said as he seized Percy's jumper and tried to force it over his head.

"I'll see you tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon. I'm going to be out of the castle all of today, visiting a friend." Harry explained as he changed into something warmer.

A pair of dark jeans that looked quite similar to the ones Harry had wore the night they snuck out of the common room and bumped into Fluffy, a blue t-shirt, and the Weasley jumper.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked as Harry placed a large, black cloak over himself and stuffed a small box into it.

"To visit two friends I haven't seen for a while." Harry replied as he picked up his wand, and stuff it into his belt.

He picked up a sports bag that laid on top of his trunk, placed the present Dudley had given him into it, and left to go to the kitchens. Harry managed to find Colly, and stuffed a few packages of food into his sports bag.

When he arrived at the gates of Hogwarts, he saw a very familiar future professor standing there waiting for him.

"Moony!" Harry said happily as he approached the werewolf who looked quite scared.

"Hello Harry." He whispered as he held his hand out to shake Harry's.

"Hey. It's been a while since I last saw you." Harry grinned as the expression on Remus' face brightened.

"You remember me from when you were a baby Harry?" he asked as Harry's grin widened.

"In a way."

"Are you sure you want to go to Azkaban to visit Sirius Black?" Remus asked as Harry nodded his head.

"Absolutely."

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

The prison was dark, cold, and clammy. Shivers crawled up Harry's back as he entered it, and he saw that dementors surrounded the area.

"Where's he located at?" Harry asked as he and Remus followed the guard further into the Azkaban prison.

The guard didn't reply, and continued to lead them further. After what seemed like an eternity of coldness, they arrived outside the jail cell of Sirius Black.

"Sirius?" Harry whispered as he approached the dark area. A man laid there, not making a move.

"Padfoot?" Harry spoke once more in barely a whisper, he looked around the surroundings his god-father had to live in, and suddenly, tears escaped from his eyes.

"Dear God... what have I done?" Harry gasped as he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

"Harry—Harry get up. Harry!" Remus said as he tried to get Harry back onto his feet.

"James?" a raspy voice asked from inside the cell.

"Open the gate." Harry instructed as the guard looked over at Remus.

The werewolf nodded, and he did so, letting Harry into the cell.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked as his god-father crawled away from him, and sat by the corner of the room.

"This place is a mess." Remus whispered as he looked around.

"Flovento!" Harry shouted as he waved his wand around.

The room suddenly became clean, and the foul smell of rats disappeared, leaving normal breathing air behind.

"Harry—do you know what you're doing?" Remus questioned as Harry nodded.

He got onto one knee, so he was squatting now, and opened his sports bag to pull out the packages of food he got from Hogwarts.

"Eat it while it's warm. I got the house elves to place a charm on it." Harry said as he held a plate full of chicken to the man.

Sirius immediately grabbed it, and began devouring it hungrily.

"Merry Christmas Sirius." Harry whispered as he continued to pull out the packages of food.

The man continued to eat at a fast rate, as if his life depended on it. It was when all the food was gone, did he speak.

"Why did you bring it? Why are you here?"

The voice sounded so sad, so emotionless.

"Because. You're family." Harry replied as he pulled his wand out again.

"Exchango!" Immediately, the clothes that Sirius wore changed into clean robes.

"How did you—"

"I brought it with me; it was in the sports bag." Harry explained as the man nodded.

"Charvarto!" Harry said as Sirius' face received a completely make over.

He no longer had long hair, and his beard was gone. The wild look he had earlier was now replaced with a look of tiredness upon a handsome man.

"Why? Didn't they tell you? That I—that I killed your parents? Sent them to their death?" Sirius asked as Harry nodded.

"They did. But you weren't the one who killed them. Peter was." Harry spat the last two words out of his mouth.

Remus gasped as Sirius looked up at him in shock.

"How did you—"

"Good things come to those who wait Sirius. Keep waiting. You'll get out of here soon enough. I promise you that." Harry said as he approached his god-father, and gave him a huge hug.

"I'm sorry kid... that I couldn't give you the best I could... that you had to be sent off to muggles." Sirius was now sobbing.

"It's okay. It's really okay." Harry said as he pulled away from his god-father.

"You're innocent. Remember that. Whatever you do, don't go crazy. Don't think happy thoughts. Whenever the dementors walk by, just keep thinking 'I'm innocent', 'I'm innocent'. Or—" Harry paused as he leaned forward to his god-father's ear.

"Think of horrible things. Imagine what it would've been like to see my parents when Voldemort attacked. Dementors can only defeat you because they have the ability to suck away all your happiness. If you think of something bad, horrible, they'll be scared. They won't be able to do anything to you." Harry whispered as the 'convict' nodded.

"It'll work. Trust me." Harry said as a sudden wave of coldness caused him to gasp.

"They're coming." The guard said as he pulled his wand out.

"I hate it when they come." He said as Harry nodded and walked out of the cell to face the dementors.

"**EXPECTO PATRONUM!**" Harry shouted as he thought of Sirius and him together in the future. As a family.

Immediately, a beam of light appeared out of his wand, and Harry watched as a large dog appeared.

"Padfoot." Remus whispered as Harry stared in shock.

_'It was supposed to be Prongs.'_

But it wasn't. The large dog chased the dementors away immediately, and the coldness disappeared from the area.

"Harry—how did you know that spell?" Remus asked as Harry smiled slightly.

"I just did." Harry replied as he looked over at Sirius.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay any longer. Apparently, the visiting hours in Azkaban are short. I'll come back soon. I promise. Five times a year. Christmas," Harry was now beginning to tick of his fingers, "Easter, beginning of summer, my birthday, and end of summer."

A look of pure happiness was now on Sirius' face.

"I'll try to find a way to see if I can bottle up a Patronum charm. Maybe then life would be easier here." Harry said as he entered the cell to give his god-father one last hug.

"Merry Christmas Padfoot. I'll see you at Easter." Harry said as he waved his wand, and the left over plates and bowls from the food disappeared.

He picked up his sports bag, and pulled another package out of it.

"It's extra robes. In case you ever need it." Harry explained as he handed the package to Sirius, who took it with shaking hands.

"Thank you." He whispered as Harry grinned.

"No, thank you. You're the one reason I'm looking forward to the future. Because in the future, you'll be out of here. And we'll be together as a family. Like it's supposed to be. After all, you're my god-father." Harry stated as tears streamed down the man's face.

"Good bye Sirius." Harry whispered as he held his hand out to shake his.

Sirius grasped it and shook it with ease, before pulling him into another hug.

"Good bye, Harry."

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

"Why'd you do that? Why did you give him all that food, tell them all that stuff? Give him the clothes?" Remus asked on the underground muggle train as he and Harry both sat down at a seat.

"He's my god-father. He's family. I'd do the same for you." Harry explained as Remus looked away.

"No you won't, if you knew what I am." He whispered.

"Being a werewolf isn't a big deal." Harry replied under his breath as he took something out of his pocket, and handed it to Remus.

It was a small box.

"Drink the potion inside it before the full moon. Before you transform. It'll help you control it. Don't tell anyone about this. It's not supposed to be discovered until the summer before my third year. Professor Snape's supposed to figure it out." Harry stated as he handed it to Lupin.

"What is it?"

"Nothing poison, trust me on that. There's only thirty doses in there. You'll have to get some from Snape when you run out. _Don't _tell _anyone_ about this. Not even Dumbledore. My life depends on it." Harry whispered as Remus nodded.

"I trust you Harry. I really do. But not tell Dumbledore?"

"He'll get mad at me. He really will. Oh yeah... here's my stop, I'm staying at my cousins for a night. Explain that to Dumbledore for me when you see him. Just say that I insisted and if you wouldn't let me go, I'd stun you." Harry said as he got to his feet.

"What? Harry, where are you going?" Remus asked as the train stopped.

"I'm staying with my aunt and uncle today. It's Christmas! Explain to Dumbledore I'll be back tomorrow, and if he planned to have a teacher pick me up personally, not to send Snape. Or it'll be dangerous. Have fun. I'll see you around Moony. Bye." Harry said as he stepped out off the train, and the doors closed.

Harry waved good-bye to his future defence against the dark arts teacher, and then turned around to walk back to number four Privet drive.

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

**DING DONG!**

"Who could that be?" Dudley groaned as he walked out of the living room, over to the front door and wrenched it open.

"We don't want to buy any cookies!" Dudley managed to shout before he realized who stood there.

"Harry?"

"Never thought you'd be one to say you didn't want cookies, Dud." Harry grinned as he entered the house.

"I thought—I thought you said you couldn't come back!" Dudley said as Harry shook his head.

"There's always a way. Christmas is time for family, and even if Dumbledore doesn't like it, I'm spending it here with you guys." Harry said as he placed his sports bag by the stairs, and walked into the living room.

The room was decorated with tinsel and Christmas coloured streamers, it looked quite lively. By the corner of the room, next to the fireplace, was a large Christmas tree. Under the tree were piles of presents all for Dudley.

"Harry? Thought your headmaster said you weren't going to come back." Aunt Petunia's voice whispered as Harry looked over at his aunt and uncle and smiled at him.

"Made special arrangements to I could come see you guys. But I've got to go back to school tomorrow." Harry explained as he sat down at the couch.

"I assume you've received my presents that I've sent?" Harry asked as they all nodded.

"That chocolate thing was good. And those sugar quills came in handy when I was working." Uncle Vernon muttered as Harry nodded.

He had taken the liberty of sending an owl down to the sweets store down in Hogsmeade, and ordering some things to send to the Dursleys for Christmas, so they could understand what Wizarding candy tasted like.

"That cooking book you sent me—not bad." Aunt Petunia said as Harry's smile widened.

"Glad you liked it." Harry said happily.

"Did you like your present?" Dudley asked as Harry nodded.

"I was listening to it on my way to Azkaban in the morning, and on my way back. The '98 degrees' CD is good." Harry stated as Dudley smirked.

"One of my favourite bands."

"I see. It's on my favourite's list now too." Harry decided as aunt Petunia left to go make some tea.

For the rest of the afternoon, Harry and the Dursleys decided to talk about how his school year had been so far.

When Harry explained to them the troll incident, they were all shocked by the fact that the school was so dangerous.

"Blinded it did you?" Uncle Vernon asked as Harry nodded.

"That's my nephew. Good going." He said as Harry smiled slightly.

_'Was that a compliment?'_ Harry thought to himself as they continued on with the conversation.

After Harry mentioned the Quidditch game, they Dursleys were all eager to see a game.

"Did someone really try to knock you off your broom?" Dudley asked as Harry nodded.

"Good thing I summoned my broom back before I hit the ground. It would've hurt." Harry explained as he laughed heartedly.

"The next game we're having would be the one against Hufflepuff. I could probably make arrangements with Dumbledore for you guys to pay a visit to Hogwarts." Harry suggested as a look of happiness appeared onto Dudley's face.

"Dad! Mum! Can we?" he asked eagerly as aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon looked at each other for a moment.

"Sure. I'd like to see how well you can fly Harry." Uncle Vernon smiled as Harry smiled back.

_'This is weird, he's not calling me boy anymore... guessed Dudley told them a thing or two while I was gone.' _Harry thought as he realized it was time for dinner.

Uncle Vernon took them out to a fancy restaurant, and they all had to wear suits and dresses. Dudley had offered to lend Harry one of his, but Harry simply waved his wand around and transformer his Weasley jumper and jeans into a tuxedo.

"It wears off after six hours." Harry explained when the Dursleys asked.

After the dinner, Harry and the Dursley returned to the house all laughing and smiling. And for the last few hours of the Christmas day, they all played exploding snap, and Wizarding chess.

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

At first, Dumbledore thought Remus was joking when he told him what had happened at Azkaban, but by the time Remus had got to the part where Harry walked off at the train station to go to his cousin's, he was absolutely steaming.

Lupin of course, had left out the part about Harry giving him the potion.

"And you just let him go?" he asked angrily.

"Well—yes... Professor, he doesn't seem like a normal eleven year old to me. He seems far more mature. More like he's seventeen or sixteen. A student that's getting ready to graduate Hogwarts. The spells and charms he had used on Sirius were N.E.W.T.'s material!" Remus stated as Dumbledore sighed.

"Remus, you must understand, Voldemort may not be dead. If we leave Harry out of our sight for one moment—"

"But haven't you been listening to me headmaster? Harry can perform the Patronum charm!" Lupin claimed as Dumbledore frowned.

"Figures. Like father like son. What's next, going around letting the criminals of Azkaban loose?" Snape's voice whispered from behind Remus.

"Severus." Lupin said, acknowledging the potions master.

"Professor, I do believe we should send someone down there to bring Potter back. And I think I'm the best teacher here at Hogwarts to do so. Professor McGonagall has to deal with her students, and the Slytherins are able to control their behaviour while I'm not here."

"Harry also added that if you send Severus..."

"Harry this... Harry that... is that all you talk about?" Snape cut in sarcastically, but Remus continued.

"Harry added that if you send Severus, thing might get dangerous. I don't know what he meant by that, but I'm sure he'd hex Snape or something."

"I'd like to see him try." Snape growled angrily as Remus smirked.

"Well Remus, I must thank you for taking young Harry to Azkaban today to visit Mr. Black. It's nearly time for the dinner feast—do you wish to join us?" Dumbledore asked as Remus smiled.

"Of course Headmaster, it's been way too long since I was last at Hogwarts."

_There's supposed to be stars here right now, but the Quick Edit thingy is screwed up and won't let me use it!_

"Hey Harry, when are your friends going to come pick you up to go back to Hogwarts?" Dudley asked as he sat down at the table to eat breakfast.

"I've no idea, to tell the truth." Harry said as he stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth and chewed it slowly.

"Which teacher will it be?" Aunt Petunia asked as she handed Dudley a plate full of toast.

"I think it'll be Snape. Even if I warned Remus to tell Dumbledore not to send him, that git will still manage to talk his way into it. Do ignore his threats though. He can't do anything to you. Anything permanently anyways, I know all the counter curses." Harry stated as the Dursley all nodded.

The next few minutes of breakfast was silent, until Harry suddenly suggest a snowball fight after lunch.

The Dursley agreed immediately, and Dudley stated that he and his dad were working together against Harry, since Harry was allowed to use magic. Aunt Petunia stated that she would just watch from inside and make the hot chocolate.

Harry quickly placed an illusion charm around the whole of the backyard, so only witches and wizards could see what was going on. Then, using his wand, he quickly created two large forts and a pile of snowballs for each side.

"You can choose which one to use first!" Harry said with a smile.

Dudley chose the one to the left, near the green house, and Harry walked over to the right.

"THREE! TWO! ONE! ATTACK!" Dudley shouted as he and his father began to pelt snowballs at Harry's fort.

"Ouch! That one hit my head Dudley!" Harry stated as he shot a few snowballs over at his cousin and uncle with his wand magic.

Dudley laughed happily, and Harry chuckled as he placed his wand away into his cloak. He might as well have a proper snowball fight if he intended on having one at all.

_Whoosh! Smash! Crash!_

**CRACK!**

The two teenagers and adults were having so much fun during the snowball fight, they didn't even notice when a certain slimy haired git apparated in the middle of their snowball fight.

"Let's see if you can handle this!" Dudley shouted as he got to his feet and threw a large snowball towards Harry's direction.

Fear appeared in his eyes as he watched the snow smash upon the potions master's head.

"Uh oh... um... Harry..." Dudley's voice was now shaky.

"Oh no you don't, not distractions!" Harry stated as he jumped up and threw snowball after snowball towards the direction of Dudley.

"**POTTER!**"

Harry froze in his actions, the snowball he held over his head, ready to fly, fell downwards and landed upon his head, but Harry didn't really notice.

"Dear god. Accio camera!" Harry shouted immediately as a camera came zooming out of the house.

Harry took a few pictures of Professor Snape standing there, then began to laugh out loud.

"Professor, maybe you should've given us a bit of a warning before you came." Harry smiled but his happiness disappeared when he saw the look of anger in Snape's eyes.

"You—Potter—Inside! Now!"

Harry gulped slightly and did as he was told, but he walked towards the house with his back turned away from Snape.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"How do I know you're not a death eater that's here to kill me? How do I know you're even the real Professor Snape?" Harry asked as he raised his wand.

"Ask me a question only I would know."

"What do you think of my father?"

"Worse people in the world, I regret meeting him, deserved to die if you ask me." Snape said as Harry lowered his wand slowly.

"I'll get you for that later." He muttered as he entered the house.

"Who's he?" Dudley managed to whisper across to Harry before they sat down in the living room.

"Professor Severus Snape. Head of Slytherin house. One of the last people you'd want to come across on his bad day." Harry replied as he gulped.

"It's going to be a long day." Harry mumbled as he watched the Potions Master enter the room with a look that could kill.

"Yup. Long day."

**_REVIEW REPLIES!_**

**Ksai-**_If Harry did destroy Voldemort on the first day of school, there would be no excitement for the next god knows how many years. There would be no point of a sequel or AU, meaning boring things. And to you, this fanfic might be a shitty thing, but to other readers, it's considered good. And personally, that's all that matters to me. Other people who do intend on throwing flames at me at least give me reasons why, and 'because it's a bad mixture' isn't really a good enough excuse. But thanks for the review anyways. At least I know what not to do now; and for your information, it's not a bad mixture, you don't even know the whole story, so don't jump to conclusions._

**Myrddin Ambrosius**-_Your wish is my command—although it's only for one day though. Dumbledore'll ruin everything... again..._

**Ranchan17-**_That's at the top of my 'to write' list, but then I'm thinking ahead and I'm wondering how Voldemort would treat Snape if he heard from one of the Slytherins that their Potions Master's been friends with Potter._

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**Beriorgan-**_Oops, my bad, I was half awake when I wrote that part, it was at two in the morning... you see, it takes around sixseven hours to write one chapter, and I usually don't stop after I start. Which is why I haven't gotten around to updating lately, not enough time. I'll go back and change that one of these days... I donno when, but one of these days I will _

**Spooofiee-**_Thxs for the encouragement, as you can see in this chapter, I don't really use anything out of the actual book except the Mirror of Erised and the invisibility cloak._

**Schnuff-**_Ron thinks it's just a crush... Hermione's too embarrassed to admit to it, and Harry can't exactly go straight up to her face and tell her he's in love with her. He has to control his feelings and wait for at least two or three more years. Poor guy, lol and Don't worry, I intend on continuing._**Shdurrani-**_Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're enjoying the fanfic so far. I hope this chapter wasn't too disappointing, when I wrote the first ¼ of the chapter, I had a major headache and wasn't exactly thinking right. So hope it's not that bad... if it is, please tell me, then I'll know what to change._**Nicoletta-**_My thoughts exactly... since Dumbledore won't even bother to listen to Harry when he tries to explain something about the future, Harry's only choice is to take the situation into his own hands._**Yokiyen-**_Visit with Dudley coming up, but I must say, the relationship between Harry and his aunt and uncle won't be getting any better for the next few years... him and Dudley on the other hand, will get along fine. So no worry_**Tanydwr**-_He'll hold him back. I won't write down anything too cruel though... might turn the character dark. But I've got to say, Dumbledore was stupid for not telling Harry about the prophecy earlier... now he's got to deal with Harry at the age of um... 'eleven'._**Silvercrystal77-**_It is a bit tedious, but it gives me a chance to re-read the book, and get some detail I skipped out on inside my head. I must say, this review shocked me a bit. Your roommate wouldn't go to class? Hm... word of advice, (Well, more like statement of advice) make sure you're free for the next little while before you start reading. I hate it when I have to stop reading during the middle of a chapter just because I've got to go to class too... so I tell myself that quite a lot lately _**Jabba1-**_Thanks, I'll try my best, but don't hesitate to tell me if I get too corny. It'll give me the chance of improving my writing._**swordmaster mage-**_Yup, RON! As you have read in this chapter, the red head Weasley has finally made his move, and began asking questions._**Harriet Jamina Potter-**_Doesn't want to risk the chance of the future changing, but it's going to be changing like crazy since Harry knows what's going to happen in the next few years._**Darak-**_No, he can't, but he doesn't want to know too much about the future, might not be good._**gallandro-83-**_He's preparing alright... mentally, physically, and emotionally. And for the fourth year, the tasks will all be the same, Dumbledore will even go to the extent of asking Harry what the tasks were to make his job easier lol_**TopQuark-**_Trust me when I say this, you're not the only one wondering about that. But if Harry lets Sirius out early, then Peter might end up getting caught, or escaping earlier, causing Voldemort's raise to either be postponed or moved up a few years, and destiny must take its course one way or another. I know it's a bit confusing, even I don't get it sometimes._**TatraMegami**-_Percy will take a big part in the second year of Time Warp. I'm not gonna tell you what, but when the chapter comes out, you'll understand by what I mean when I say a big part in the second year._**Rini Sayian-jin**-_Escapes for one day, just like you suggested._

_Thanks to: _Muggle, BurningIce22, fanficfreak35, Tanya J Potter, Sam, Delphine Pryde, KitsuneFireMaster, Nightwing 509, kyra barton, and PrincessSkywalkerOrgana for reviewing!

**A/N**_: Sorry if your name's not on the list, barely had time to check if anyone review again. This chapter's a bit shorter then usual, but I'll add more next chapter. But anyways, **PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	5. So Close, Yet So Far

**Title: **Time Warp: Year One

**Author: **Laen

**Chapter: **(5) So Close, Yet So Far

**Summary: **Harry returns to Hogwarts, and has a talk with Remus... then there's the Quidditch match...

**Disclaimer:** All characters below belong to Joanne K. Rowling; the idea of Harry going back in time came from Back to the Future.

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys like this chapter... and please, REVIEW!****

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"Listen Potter, I don't know what the bloody hell you're up to, but you're going back to Hogwarts—now! I don't understand you anyways, why would you want to be with these—_muggles_?" Snape asked as he spat the last word out, glancing at the Dursleys.

"They're my family." Harry hissed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't care—are you mad or something? Running off to Azkaban? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is you—?"

"Of course I know how dangerous that is Snape!" Harry growled.

"You're going back to Hogwarts now—get your stuff."

"I'll talk to Dumbledore about the match, then I'll owl you and—"

"Now Potter!"

"—we can arrange stuff later. _Accio_!"

All of the belongings Harry had planned on bring back to Hogwarts suddenly came zooming towards him, and landed in a pile next to him. Harry quickly stuff most of it into his backpack, and ignored Snape's glaring when the Potions Master noticed the MP3 CD Player and his CDs.

"Muggle technology isn't allowed inside the school Potter—it's against the law." Severus Snape stated as Harry shrugged.

"What's your point?" He asked as he zipped up his sports bag, and picked it up.

"Hope to see you soon—bye!" Harry smiled as Snape pulled a quill out, and he placed a finger on it.

The next thing he felt was a nauseous tug at his nose, and he felt himself land onto the ground. He slipped on the ice, and fell, but not before he got a glance of where he had returned to.

The glance told him all he needed to know... he was back at Hogwarts.

"Harry, I need to know why you think Peter Pettigrew was the man who betrayed your parents, and not Sirius Black." Lupin said as he approached the eleven year old Gryffindor.

"I have a feeling... don't ask why... but I just believe that Sirius is innocent." Harry answered.

"No proof—no evidence—and you believe he's innocent?" Lupin asked in disbelief.

"I'm not asking you to believe me. I just think he's innocent."

"And Harry—I need to ask you about something—how do you know—about me? And that potion! Why don't you want me to tell Dumbledore? And why did you say Snape would be the one who would figure it out the summer you went into your third year?"

"Please—don't ask... I won't be able to answer anything—not until after my third year is over." Harry whispered.

"Fine... but you understand, time flies. I'll be back in two years Harry, and I'll be asking you the exact same questions. Except this time, I'll be demanding an answer."

Harry nodded to show that he understood what the werewolf was talking about.

"I'll see you around then. Ron's probably wondering where I am." Harry muttered as he turned to walk away.

"Good-bye Harry." Remus replied as Harry continued to walk...

"Harry, what are you doing with that muggle thing?" Ron asked as he looked over Harry's shoulder.

"Trying to make it work... run on magic, instead of batteries." Harry muttered as he skimmed through a page in the book, then looked at the CD player.

"You know, Hermione's coming back in a few days—you could always ask her to help you." Ron said as Harry shook his head.

"Nah, it's okay."

He continued to fiddle around with the machinery.

Hermione Granger had returned to Hogwarts shortly before the new term started, and continued to badger the two first year boys to help her in the search for Nicolas Flamel. Ron came close to telling Hermione who he was several times, and it took Harry three silencing charms to shut him up. Apparently, the red head was good at throwing silencing charms off.

Harry hadn't bothered to go look for the mirror of Erised during the winter break, and didn't bother mentioning it to Ron or Hermione at all, but he did, owl Dumbledore and request that the headmaster to use the mirror to protect the stone.

Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, was now working the team harder now, even the rain couldn't dampen his spirits. The Weasley twins complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but Harry was on Wood's side. Like he was supposed to.

The young Gryffindor had talked to the headmaster about inviting his cousin, aunt, and uncle to one of the games, and when the headmaster agreed, he was more then just delighted.

He had been so happy about the news, he didn't even hear George and Fred complain about Snape referring the next Quidditch game. When he did though, he groaned in disbelief.

"That bugger." He muttered as he stepped through the common room door.

Inside, was Neville, hopping around the room with both his feet attacked. He had been attacked by Malfoy with the Leg-Locker Curse.

"Oh man..." Harry sighed as he waved his wand, and performed the counter-curse before Hermione could do a thing.

"Here Neville, have a chocolate frog." He offered as he pulled out a Chocolate frog out of his pocket, and handed it to the first year Gryffindor.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy, remember that... and the next time he tries to attack you, just point your wand at him and yell stupefy." Harry said as Neville smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Harry... I'll keep that in mind. What does the spell do? Stun him?" Neville asked as Harry nodded with a large grin on his face.

"Yup. If you plan to attack him, attack him when there's loads of people around. If you're going to lose house points, you lose it with pride."

Neville's face broke out into a large smile, and Harry chuckled slightly.

"Well, I think I'll go to bed… D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"

As Neville walked away, Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card.

"Dumbledore again," he said slowly, trying to remember the words he had used when he went through this the first time.

"He was the first once I ever—" Harry paused, and he placed a look of shock onto his face, and gasped.

"I've found him!" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! Read this Hermione!" Harry said as he handed the card to her.

"Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood _and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel! Stay here_! I'll be right back!" Hermione said as she jumped to her feet, and headed towards the girl's dorm.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Ron asked as Harry nodded.

Hermione appeared a few seconds later, with an enormous old book in her arms.

"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"_Light?_" asked Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.

At last she found what she was looking for.

"I knew it! I _knew _it!"

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him as Harry smiled in amusement.

"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the _only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!_:

"Wicked." Harry said before Ron could ask what it was.

"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker Immortal. There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicolas Flamel,. The noted alchemist and opera-lover. Mr Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle—who's six hundred and fifty-eight years old, in case you're wondering." Hermione read out loud as both Harry and Ron nodded.

"So that's what Fluffy's hiding." Harry said, although he knew it was the truth.

"No wonder Snape's after it!" Ron said as Harry nudged him.

"Snape's not after it, it's Quirrell."

"Harry, you said it was Quirrell who was hexing your broomstick last time—why do you think that Quirrell is the one—"

"Hermione, Harry has his reasons... maybe he'll tell you in a few years, maybe not. But life with it alright?" Ron cut in rudely

"Hmp." Hermione muttered as she turned to ignore Ron.

Harry sighed and yawned in disbelief at their immaturity.

Like Remus Lupin has said to Harry earlier on a few weeks back, time did fly by... and before Harry knew it, it was the day of the Quidditch match.

Ron and Hermione had both wished him good luck, and he went into the change room to get ready for the game. After getting into his uniform, he decided to tune out on all the noise around him, and calm himself down.

He knew for a fact that his uncle, aunt and cousin were in the stands, getting ready to cheer him on, but what he was trying to decide, was if he should catch the snitch five minutes into the game, or if he should wait for a while, let the game continue, then catch it.

He didn't have time to decide, for Lee Jordan began to introduce the players. He mounted his broom, and flew out into the stadium.

Back in the stands, Neville had gotten himself into an argument with Malfoy and his two thugs. Ron was watching the game intensively, and didn't bother to listen to a word the Slytherins were saying... Dudley and the Dursley, who were sitting only a few seats away on the other hand, couldn't help but hear.

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team? It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents," Dudley got ready to rise to his feet in defence of his cousin, but his parents held him down, "then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money—you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."

Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy.

"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," he stammered.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game said, "You tell him, Neville."

"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."

"I'm warning you, Malfoy—one more word—"

"Ron!" said Hermione suddenly. "Harry—!"

Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Harry streaked towards the ground like a bullet.

"You're in luck, Weasley. Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Malfoy.

Ron snapped. But then, so did Dudley. Harry's aunt and uncle barely had a chance to grab Dudley, as the eleven year old muggle lunged towards Malfoy.

Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on trop of him, wrestling him to the ground. And Dudley was pounding away at Crabbe and Goyle, who were trying to help. Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help  Ron attack Malfoy.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping on to her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape—she didn't even notice Ron and Neville kicking away at Malfoy, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Dudley, Crabbe, and Goyle.

Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches—next second, Harry had pulled out of his dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.

The stands erupted in such a loud cheer, Hermione had to scream to be heard by Ron, Neville and Dudley.

"Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor are in the lead!"

Harry jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground. He couldn't believe it. He'd done it—the game was over; it had barely lasted five minutes. As Gryffindors came spilling on to the pitch, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped—then Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore's worried face.

"Harry—you need to come to the hospital wing—your cousin's been injured."

"Dudley! Dudley!" Harry shouted as he ran into the hospital wing panting.

He saw Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Neville each lying down on a bed unconscious, and noticed that his aunt and uncle were standing at a bed, and the person lying on the bed, was none other then his cousin.

"Dudley!" Harry exclaimed as he approached the last of his family.

"Harry." Uncle Vernon acknowledged as he stared at his son, who was lying on the bed with a black eye.

"Is he alright?" Harry asked.

"Just knocked out." Madam Pomfrey stated as Harry sighed in relief.

"Professor Dumbledore—you didn't have to scare me like that—I thought Malfoy had hexed him or something. What happened to Malfoy anyways?" Harry asked as he turned towards the Slytherins plus Neville.

"Got into a fight—Dudley joined in, they were insulting your friends—and you. The blonde boy—Malfoy—he said something about Lily." Aunt Petunia said as Harry's face turned pale.

"If he wasn't already knocked unconscious, I'd break his face." Harry growled angrily.

"Mr Potter! I don't need anymore patients as it is!" Madam Pomfrey snapped as Harry smiled sheepishly for a moment.

"So, did you like the game?" Harry questioned.

"That was a heck of a dive boy—I mean—Harry. Way to go." Uncle Vernon said as Harry smiled.

"You should've seen what your friend—that red head—Ron I think, did to that blonde guy." Dudley's voice rang out through the hospital wing.

Harry turned to see his cousin grinning back at him.

"Dudley!" Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon both said as they hugged their son.

"Mum... dad... we're in public." Dudley muttered embarrassingly as Harry chuckled.

"Ron was the one who knocked Malfoy out?" Harry asked as Dudley nodded.

"And the other guy, Neville Longbottom? I think he knocked that short fat guy in green robes out there after he knocked me out—I managed to get the other guy out before hand though." Dudley said as Harry smiled.

"Well—Mr Dursley, I believe it is time for you to return home? Is it not? And Mr. Potter, there's a party in the Gryffindor tower for your victorious win. You'd better go celebrate." Dumbledore said as Harry nodded.

"Bye." Harry said as he waved, then turned around, and headed back to his common room.

Harry, Ron and Hermione spent the next few weeks of the school year reviewing their school work, and practically nothing else. When Ron complained about getting some rest, Harry decided to show Hermione his MP3 CD player and ask for some help on making it work on magic

The group of friends wandered over to the library, so Hermione could look for the right books. When they were there... they found more then they intended for...

"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Ron asked.

The half giant shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He look very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Jus' lookin'," he said in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively as Harry smiled at his attitude. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St—"

"Shhhh!: Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh? Listen—come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh—"

"See ya later, then." Said Harry.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"_Dragons!_" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide._"

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon." Harry muttered.

"But it's against out laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we've got Dragons in the back garden-anyways, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania—Harry, did this happen when you were—"

"Shhhh!" Harry hissed as he stomped onto Ron's foot angrily.

"There aren't wild dragons in _Britain_! Is there?" Harry asked wanting to avoid the subject Ron had brought up.

"Of course there are," said Ron as he rubbed his foot in pain. "Common Welsh Green  and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called, "Who is it?" before he let them in and then shut the door quickly behind them.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warn day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So—yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," Hermione spoke up when no one else did. "What else is guarding the stone other then Fluffy?"

Hagrid frowned at her.

"I can't tell yeh tat," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts—I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all?" Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Of, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you _do_ know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron both beamed at Hermione happily.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout—Professor Flitwick---Professor McGonagall—" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell—an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"_Snape?_"

"Yeah—yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped _protect_ the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

"Oh—" was all Harry could say before he bid good bye to the half giant, and headed back up to the castle with his friends at his side.

School continued to fly quickly, and although Ron and Hermione hadn't known about Hagrid's new pet, Harry had owl-ed the groundskeeper and told him to send the dragon to Charlie. The half giant didn't agree at first, but after a few long letters, he finally agreed.

Harry made a few arrangements with Dumbledore, and the headmaster somehow found a way to get the Norbert over to Charlie. The school days continued to swing by, and before Harry knew it, his scar began to hurt like mad.

"It's today! He's going to steal the stone today!" Harry gasped as and led his friends towards the third floor corridor.

"Come on, we've got to get in!" Harry said as he pulled his wand out.

He was about to mutter the unlocking spell when he heard his name being called out.

"Mr Potter! Mr Weasley! Miss Granger! What do you three think you are doing?" Professor McGonagall's voice screeched through the hallway.

"Someone's trying to steal the stone!" Ron cried out before Harry had a chance to stop him.

"How do you know—?" the Headmistress asked in shock.

"We just do—listen, someone's going to try and steal the stone, and you've got to let us stop him Professor! Dumbledore would understand!" Ron exclaimed, but shut up the moment Harry and Hermione stomped onto his feet.

"Ouch! Bloody Hell!" Ron yelled as he began to jump up and down in pain.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor Mr Weasley. Watch your language—and Mr Potter, I suggest you go out and have some fun, no one will be able to steal the stone, since it's too well protected."

"But Professor—"

"Weasley, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and fathered up the fallen books. "Go and enjoy the sunshine."

Ron groaned, and turned to leave, but Harry sighed deeply, wondering how much of the past he had already altered.

**A/N:**_ Truly, truly, truly, SORRY for not updating sooner! I've no time, and my brain's gone into overdrive, not to mention the teachers at my school are evil! I'm even more sorry to say that the chapters for this fanfic will be cut down to half of what it originally was... it's taking me way too much time to write this... but if all works out, I'll be able to finish this before the month's over, and the chapters during summer would be longer! I've no time to review the responses... and I apologize if this chapter sucked, cause in my mind, it did... flames are welcome, so are reviews, suggestions and ideas would be wonderfully and great, and simple little comments would do okay to. Anyways, just post something in the review box._

**_P.S.:_**_ I decided to take out the Norbert part because it's just too troublesome... not to mention I've got an English exam tomorrow... _

Thanks to: Rini Sayian-jin, hphotshot3, Tombadgerlock, GShans, aaf, Silvercrystal77, Nicoletta, Nightwing 509, BurningIce22, Rain, MerlinHalliwell, Harriet Jamina Potter, TopQuark, GShans, EnterTheLion, hum, Darak, FireWulf, Sorceress Misha, hphotshot3, Schnuff, who?, Nasser Himura, Hilel, Jabba1, a6, OrionTheHunter, Wytiln fanficfan54321, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, Rhysel Ash, lucasfsf, Madfoot Moony, Rini Sayian-jin, Mikito, MJD, Y401-F4N, knot2be, WaitingforAron, pinkishblu-1020, borne-shadow-childe, Hannanora-Potter, anataremrys, ImperialJedi, HarryPassionFan, GKX-6, 


	6. The Final Battle

**Title: **Time Warp: Year One

**Author: **Laen

**Chapter: **(6) The Final Battle

**Summary: **Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally go searching for Quirrell... but will someone join them on this little trip?

**Disclaimer:** All characters below belong to Joanne K. Rowling; the idea of Harry going back in time came from Back to the Future.

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the delay! Please review!

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"Harry, stop pacing!" Ron snapped as the eleven year old wizard finally froze in his steps.

"That's it, I'm tired of waiting, let's go already." Harry said as he pulls his invisibility cloak out of his bag.

"Harry, Neville's still down here studying!" Hermione hissed as she looked over in the direction of the Gryffindor first year.

"Who cares. He can come along for all I care. Let's just go already!"

Harry swung the cloak around, and disappeared under it. Ron and Hermione both groaned, causing Neville to turn his attention to them.

"Hey, where's Harry?" he asked confusingly, as Harry reappeared, to the shock of his life.

"What—how—what—" Neville began to freak out.

"Nev, we're going out, don't worry, we won't get caught. But in case we don't return by tomorrow morning, find Professor Dumbledore and let him know that Voldemort's gotten the stone, and he's back to power, and I'm dead." Harry said as he began to head towards the exit of the common room.

"You can't go!" Neville yelled when Harry's words sank into his head.

"Actually, I can. Come on Ron, Hermione." Harry said as he turned to his two friends, who nodded, and followed him to the door.

"Wait! No! Where are you going?" Neville asked, but it was too late, the Gryffindor trio had already walked out the door.

Neville sighed as he got to his feet... McGonagall wasn't going to be happy to hear about this.

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"Come on, let's go." Harry whispered as he and his friends slowly walked down the hall, heading towards the third floor corridor.

When they finally arrived though, they were not happy with what they saw... Standing right outside the door, was Professor McGonagall, and Neville Longbottom.

"Oh, bloody hell!" Harry hissed angrily as he removed the invisibility cloak.

"Forget about the lecture, we've got to get the stone." Harry said as McGonagall opened her mouth to speak.

Harry pulled his wand out, and whispered the unlocking charm. Before McGonagall could even do anything, he walked up to the door, and pulled it open.

"Potter! No, there's a dangerous—"

Professor McGonagall froze when she saw what was inside. The three headed dog, Fluffy, lay on the ground, sleeping and snoring. A harp was by the corner, playing a slow tune.

"It's not possible!"

"Anything's possible, now if you excuse me, I've got to go. By the way, Ron, Hermione careful after you jump, there's devil's snare down there." Harry said as he waved his wand, and moved Fluffy away from the trap door.

He walked up to it, and pulled it opened, then turned back to see his friends.

"See ya down there. But hurry, before the music ends." Harry stated before he jumped down.

He landed, and almost immediately, he rushed to his feet, and waited for his friends to arrive. Ron came falling down, screaming, as Harry remembered... then Hermione came down. He was about to perform the spell to destroy the devil's snare when Neville and Professor McGonagall came shooting down.

"What the—" Harry began, but Professor McGonagall got to her feet, waved her wand, and bright light appeared out of it, causing the devil's snare to move away.

"I was about to do that." Harry muttered under his breath.

"Let's hurry. If what you say is true, Mr Potter, then it's best that I accompany you four. After all, it is my responsibility to take care of you." McGonagall said as Harry nodded, then headed towards the next room.

He grabbed the broom that was set there, and flew up into the sky before anyone could say anything, looking for the key. Seconds later, he had it in his hands.

"You could've just summoned it." Ron said as Harry shrugged.

They opened the door, and walked into the next room.

"Great, chess board." Harry sighed as he took the spot of a bishop.

"I'll take the knight. Hermione, you talk the castle, Neville—"

"Professor, I think it's best if you and Neville just stay out of the game." Harry cut in.

"Why is that, Potter? I was the one who created this obstacle." McGonagall spoke up angrily.

"Exactly, it'll be like playing yourself, you'll never win. It's better to have Ron do this." Harry explained.

The Transfiguration Professor could only nodded unwillingly, then conjure up a few seats for her and Neville to sit on.

Twenty minutes and a few broken chess pieces later, they had gotten down to the last move.

"I've got to get myself taken." Ron whispered.

"Do it quick. And carefully." Harry muttered before anyone else could say anything.

Ron nodded, and stepped forward a few spaces. The white queen pounced almost immediately, and her stony arm hit Ron right around the head. Neville and Hermione both screamed in shock, and McGonagall could only gasp.

Harry took three spaces to the left, and the white king took his crown off and threw it at his feet. Turning to the Gryffindor head, he spoke.

"Look after Ron, Hermione and I will advance to the next obstacle. Don't worry, the Troll's already been knocked out, and we'll get past Snape's potions. Hermione's brilliant, and I know what's what." Harry said as he turned towards the door, and ran towards it.

Hermione followed swiftly, ignoring McGonagall and Neville's calls, telling them to come back. They pushed the door open, and a disgusting smell filled their nostrils. Harry walked over to the door on the other side, and pushed it open. Hermione followed right after him.

"Snape's." Harry whispered as the two of them stepped over the threshold and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the door way.

The fire was purple... at the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onwards. They seemed to be trapped.

"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles.

_"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

_Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,_

_One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

_Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line._

_Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,_

_To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison to hide_

_You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_

_Second, different are those who stand at either ends,_

_But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;_

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the left_

_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight." Harry read out loud._

_"_Brilliant!" said Hermione. "This isn't magic—it's logic—a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"You're one of the greatest wizards I know, but you've got logic... think we can get past that door?" Harry asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Give me a minute. I'll look through this again..." Hermione muttered as she read the paper several times.

Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, she clapped her hands.

"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire—towards the Stone."

"Which one will take you back?"

Hermione pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"Drink that, go back, tell McGonagall to get Dumbledore. Don't worry about me okay? I've done this before." Harry smiled weakly.

"Harry, are you mad?" Hermione asked in shock.

"I think so. Not really sure." Harry joked as Hermione's lips trembled and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him.

"_Hermione!"_

"Harry—you're a great wizard, you know."

"Not as good as you," said Harry, as she let go of him.

"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things—friendship and bravery and—oh Harry—be _careful!_"

"Don't worry, I will be. I've got too much to lose." Harry whispered as he gave Hermione another hug.

"Drink it, and get out of here." Harry said as he walked over to the line of potions, and grabbed the smallest bottle.

"Harry be careful!" Hermione yelled as Harry drained the little bottle in one gulp, and ran through the flames.

When he got through the other side, he wasn't at all surprised at who was there.

"Quirrell." Harry acknowledged calmly as he pulled his wand out.

The defence against the dark arts professor seemed to have a shocked expression on his face for a moment, before the expression turned evil and cruel.

"I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."

"Yeah, whatever. Why don't we just get this battle finished, so I can go get some well deserved rest?" Harry asked sarcastically as he snapped his fingers, trying what Quirrell did last time he lived through this.

Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around the evil man.

"How did you—"

Harry smirked, and Quirrell stopped talking.

"The advantage of knowing what's going to happen Quirrell... but then, this wasn't supposed to happen, was it? No, it was supposed to be the other way around. You were supposed to have me captured, get the stone, and then bring Voldemort back to life." Harry said as he walked around the struggling tied up wizard.

"The mirror of Erised won't give you the Stone, because only those who wish to find it, and not use it, can actually get it. But then, you want it for greedy reasons, so you can't get it." Harry smirked in a very Slytherin-like way.

"Let me free Potter." Quirrell hissed.

"Sure, why not." Harry clapped his hands, and the ropes binding Quirrell fell off.

"Feel free to look at the mirror, I doubt you'll find it. It probably already knows why you're here." Harry grinned as the wizard glared at him.

"By the way, while you're looking at that mirror, care to remove your turban? I'd like to have a little chat with Moldiewort."

"How dare you—"

"_Accio_!"

The cloth that surrounded Quirrell's head went lying towards him, and he ducked to avoid being hit by it. A look of both fear and shock appeared onto the wizards face when he realized what happened.

"Master—I—"

"Let me speak to him..."

"But master—"

"Let me speak to him..."

"Yeah Quirrell, let me speak to the old bat." Harry grinned smugly as Quirrell glared at him, and turned around slowly.

Harry tried his best to keep his cool, and stared into the red eyes of Voldemort coldly.

"Harry Potter..." it whispered as Harry nodded.

"See what I have become?" the face asked. "Mere shadow and vapour... I have form only when I can share another's body... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds... Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... blablabla. Are you done yet?" Harry asked as he walked up to the mirror.

He saw himself staring back, only he was grown up this time, what he looked like five years into the future. Grinning back at himself.

His future reflection reached into his pocket, and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the Stone back in its pocket, and as it did so, Harry felt the stone drop into his real pocket.

"You know, this would be so much easier if you would just die." Harry muttered as he turned back to face Quirrell.

"Give me that stone in your pocket Potter." Voldemort hissed.

"No thanks. I think it'd be safer in the hands of a non-crazy dark wizard who plans to kill everyone." Harry said sarcastically as Quirrell glared angrily.

"Seize him!"

Quirrell lunged forward, and Harry held his arm up to protect himself. The man grabbed his wrist, and a needle-sharp pain seared across his scar. His head felt as though it was about to split in two.

Harry managed to avoid screaming, but Quirrell was screaming his head off as he  pulled his hands away. Harry noticed that his hands were burnt, raw, red, and shiny.

"Mast, I cannot hold him—my hands—my hands!"

"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort.

Quirrell raised his hand to perform a deadly curse, but Harry, by instinct, reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face...

"AAAARGH!"

Quirrell fell to the ground in pain, his face blistering too. But Harry didn't stop there, he grabbed Quirrell by the arm and held on tight as the Wizarding continued to scream and make attempts to pull himself away.

Harry finally felt Quirrell's arm wrenched from his grasp, and slowly, the pain overcame him, and he fell into blackness....

.

.

.

Something gold was glinting just above him... Harry blinked a few times, and realized it was the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon, Harry," said Dumbledore.

"Hello, Professor." Harry whispered as he sat up.

Next to him, lay a table piled high with what looked like half the sweet shop.

"Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore beaming.

"Great. Listen, Professor—I know I probably should've told you what was going to happen but—"

"Harry, I must thank you..." Dumbledore cut in.

Harry froze slightly.

"Why?" he asked in confusion.

"You stopped Voldemort from coming back to power, and not only that, you haven't revealed your secret to anyone..." Dumbledore stopped for a moment, and stared into Harry's eyes.

Harry immediately placed a wall of protection around his mind, and clearing his thoughts of nothing.

"Ah... you are skilled." Dumbledore smiled.

"Yeah, sure. Listen Professor, I was just wondering, could you set up a portkey for me? To get to Azkaban? I'd like to visit my god-father at the beginning and end of summer. And on my birthday. I've already missed one of my promised visits to Sirius, I'd like to let him know I wasn't lying." Harry requested.

"Harry... why is it you wish to pay a visit to the murderer of your parents?"

"He didn't murder them. He wasn't even the secret keeper. It was someone else. They switched at the last second..." Harry whispered.

"He told you this?" Dumbledore questioned.

"In the future." Harry answered.

"I see. Well Mr Potter, I can arrange the portkeys for you easily, but..."

"Yes?"

"Do not speak of the future so openly. Professor McGonagall is getting suspicious." Dumbledore said as Harry shrugged.

"I'll just tell everyone the truth after my fourth year. They've started planning the Tri-Wizard Cup right?" Harry asked as Dumbledore's eyes widened.

"Well... yes. Of course. We're debating about the age limit at this moment."

Harry nodded.

"Wouldn't matter to me anyways, death eaters are supposed to try and kill me that year, so I'd get submitted. Just to let you know in advance." Harry smiled slightly.

"Mr Potter, I wish not to hear anymore of the future. Excuse me, for I have a staff meeting to get to." Dumbledore said as Harry nodded.

"Bean, sir?" Harry offered as he picked up a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and held it out to the professor.

"I suggest the toffee one..." Harry grinned as Dumbledore took it, and poped it into his mouth.

"Alas! Earwax!" Dumbledore grinned before he turned, and left the hospital wing.

.

.

.

After a good night's sleep, Harry felt nearly back to normal. Madam Pomfrey didn't let Hermione and Ron in to visit him this time, but he didn't care, as he was really tired.

"You've got another visitor." Madam Promfrey said as Harry grinned.

"Of good, who is it?"

Hagrid sidled through the door as he spoke, and sat down next to Harry, took one look at him and burst into tears.

"It's—all—my—ruddy—fault!" he sobbed, his face in his hands. "I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the only thin ghe didn't know an' I told him! Yeh could've died! All fer a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out an' made ter live s a Muggle!"

"Hagrid! Calm down! He would've found out someone. There's probably stuff about three headed dogs in the library!" Harry said, and Hagrid stopped crying.

"Harry... I've got yeh a present." Hagrid said as he pulled a handsome, leather-covered book out of his cloak, and gave it to him.

"Send owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos... Knew yeh didn' hav any... D'yeh like it?"

Harry could only stare at the pictures with a small smile on his face silently, but Hagrid understood...

.

.

.

Harry made his way down to the end-of-year feast alone that night. He had been held up by Madam Pomfrey's fussing about, insisting on giving him one last check up, so the Great Hall was already full.

It was decked out in the Slytherin colours of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. Regardless of the fact that Harry didn't cause his house to lose a hundred and fifty points by getting caught smuggling the dragon out to the flyers, Snape had managed to cut dozens of points from Gryffindor.

When Harry walked in there was a sudden hush and then everybody started talking loudly at once. He slipped into a seat between Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at him.

"Harry! You're alright!" Hermione said as she gave him a hug happily.

"Yup. Great job down there with the chess board Ron." Harry smiled as Ron grinned back.

Dumbledore arrived moments later, and the babble in the great hall died down.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts...

"Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hugglepuff with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Harry could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes... First—to Mr Ronald Weasley..."

Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn.

"...for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver, and Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"

At last, there was silence again.

"Second—to Miss Hermione Granger... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms, and Harry place his one arm around her and gave her a hug to calm her down. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves—they were a hundred points up.

"Third—to Mr Harry Potter..." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points—exactly the same as Slytherin. They had drawn for the house cup—if only Dumbledore had given Harry just one more point.

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends and stop them from running into things half blinded... I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."

Someone standing outside the great hall might as well thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood up to yell and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him.

He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before. Harry, still cheering, nudged Ron and Hermione in the ribs and pointed at Malfoy, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he had just had the Body-Bind curse put on him.

"Which mean," Dumbledore called over the storm  of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silever became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible forced smile.

He caught Harry's eye and Harry knew at once that Snape's feelings towards him hadn't changed one jot. He smirked back, and decided to turn his attention else where... It seemed as though life would be back to normal next year, or as normal as it ever was at Hogwarts...

.

.

.

Harry had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To their great surprise, Ron passed with good marks; Harry and Hermione, were tied with the best marks in the year.

Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you couldn't have everything in live.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packs, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays

("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three quarters at King's Cross Station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier letting them go through the gates in twos and threes to they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming theMuggles.

"You must come and stay this summer," said Ron, "both of you—I'll send you an owl."

"Thanks," said Harry. "I'll probably come after I pay Sirius a visit."

People jostled them as they moved forwards towards the gate way back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:

"Bye, Harry!"

"See you, Potter!"

"Still famous," said Ron, grinning at him.

"Like I care." Harry shrugged.

He, Ron and Hermione passed through the gateway together.

"There he is, Mum, there he is, look!"

It was Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, but she wasn't pointing at Ron.

"Harry Potter!" she squealed. "Look, Mum! I can see—"

"Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point."

Mrs Weasley smiled down at them.

"Busy year?" she asked.

"Very," said Harry. "Thanks for the fudge and the jumper, Mrs Weasley."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear."

"Ready, are you?"

It was Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley, all smiling slightly at the sight of Harry.

"Yeah, in a sec." Harry said as he turned to Ron and Hermione.

"You must be Harry's family!" said Mrs Weasley as she started up a conversation with Harry's relatives.

Ginny still kept her eye on Harry.

"Listen mate, keep your mouth shut about the you-know-what okay? And if you don't get any letter back from me, it won't be my fault. But if I don't mail anything back by my birthday, get Fred and George to fly down there and save me." Harry said as Ron nodded.

"Thanks." Harry muttered as he turned to Hermione.

"Hope you have a good summer, "Mione." Harry said as he gave her a warm hug, then a light kiss on the cheek, leaving Hermione blushing like mad.

"You too... Harry." Hermione muttered as Ron smirked at Harry, who smirked back, before turning to his relatives.

He noticed that Ginny's face had fallen, and she looked very upset. Harry sighed to himself, but looked up at Uncle Vernon.

"Ready?" his uncle asked.

Harry nodded.

"See ya." Harry whispered as he took one last look at his friends, before he turned, and left with his family...

**A/N:**_ Whoohoo! Finally done! Hope you liked it! I'll be posting the first chapter of '**Time Warp: Year Two'** up sometime next Thursday or Friday. I've got final exams next Wednesday and Tuesday, so I'll be busy until then... And thanks to the following for reviewing!_

Amras-Nenharma, HarryPassionFan, Nightwing 509, BurningIce22, DarkJamAB, Nicoletta, TopQuark, Silvercrystal77, PadfootsNoxed, Madfoot Moony, Canal Vorfeed, sakura-star-63, Shadowface, David M. Potter, gaul1, Hannanora-Potter, Nasser Himura, WaitingforAron, fanficfan54321, LRGator, and Siri Kat

**PS! IF YOU WISH TO READ A H/HR FANFIC THAT UPDATES DAILY, CHECK OUT '_Year of Discovery'_  IN MY PROFILE! AND PLEASE UPDATE!!!******


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